


Artistic Liberties

by LueurdeLaube



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Figure Drawing, Nudity, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-11-26 12:38:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/650605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LueurdeLaube/pseuds/LueurdeLaube
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Maka is a university student trying her hand at art but can't get over all the nudity and high school friend Soul Evans is trying to help. AU!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Grasping the Naked Truth

Chapter One – Grasping the Naked Truth

Maka Albarn, 21 years old, university student, a soon-to-be neurobiology and biochemistry major, and an art and art history minor, and a somewhat socially awkward person, packed her stuff sluggishly into her backpack, sighing heavily. The people around her immediately broke into cheery, idle and loud chatter, excitedly talking about their irrelevant experiences during the weekend and bemoaning how difficult classes were.

Maka harrumphed. Well, classes wouldn't be that difficult if they didn't spent their whole weekend partying and getting wasted. Her next class was figure drawing, which she was dreading. Without a word to the person next to her she made her way to class. If she could only make it through that class, she was going to meet up with Soul for lunch. So at least she had something to look forward to. Besides, class couldn't be that awful again.

* * *

Soul Evans was a former classmate of hers back in high school. To say they were close friends would be a lie; they had barely interacted with each other and had only a handful of classes together. They had talked so little that it had been an immense and not necessarily unpleasant surprise to stumble upon each other during the first few weeks of university on the campus.

Both not being really prone to make many and deep social connections, they immediately latched onto each other in the figural sense. It was nice to have someone to talk to, Maka thought to herself as her eyes narrowed into a heated glare at the smug smirk that was displayed on his pleasant features, even if that someone was an insufferable, egoistic, rude and arrogant idiot.

"Sooo...you chickened out in class because you couldn't stand the sight of a naked man?" His barely contained chortles only added to her embarrassment and she reached out to lightly slap his arm in a pitiful attempt to regain a bit of footing in this one-sided debate.

She crossed her arms over her chest, pouting and blushing. "I didn't chicken out! It just took me by surprise, that's all."

This time he chuckled. "Sure. Makapedia certainly didn't take her time to read through all the course descriptions before she started classes."

At this her frown only deepened and she didn't have any witty retort. She sighed and let her arms drop to her lap. "I...I just. I think doing art was a mistake. I mean I'm not very artistically inclined anyway. What made me think that I could pull this through."

Her head dropped dejectedly, her fingers fidgeting and clenching against the fabric of her skirt. She couldn't stand this. She hated the thought of failure yet here she was already giving up. This was so unlike her but she failed to see the point of continuing a subject in which she was far from excelling at.  
"Hey." Soul's voice had lost its taunting timbre, softened to a soothing tone that calmed her and lifted her mood ever so slightly. "You're Maka Albarn, a future neurobiology and biochemistry major. You have brains. And Life Model classes are about the human anatomy, nothing that needs you to be that artsy fartsy."

"It"s still art, Soul. You still have to be artistically inclined." She frowned.

"Whatever. Don't tell me you're gonna drop it 'cause of some nudity. Come on, Maka. You knew this was eventually gonna happen. I mean, I've always known you're a prude but not this much of a prude."

And the smirk was back again.

"After all, we're all naked under our clothes. You surely must've seen a naked person other than yourself, haven't you?"

At this she looked down, an uncomfortable heat spreading through her body as she intently focused her gaze on the floral pattern of her skirt. She heard him inhale deeply, his fork noisily clattering on the table as he leaned closely over.

"Don't tell me you're still...still a virgin. Not that there's anything wrong with that but-"

"But what?" Her eyes snapped up, glinting furiously at the implications of his rude remark. "Do you take me for-"

"Hey! Don't take me the wrong way. I didn't mean to insult you. I'm just surprised, that's all. That's kinda rare you know. These days."

He broke their eye contact, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Maka quietly spoke up: "I'm not."

He perked up, his eyes once again trained on her hunched form. "Huh?"

"I'm not a virgin..."

Her confession hung heavily in the air and she felt herself miserably regretting admitting that as she was still regretting that day a few years ago. It had happened during senior year, her friend Liz Thompson had somehow persuaded her to attend this horrible party and despite her adamant mindset of refusing any drop of alcohol in order not to get wasted, Maka had, in the end, succumbed to such stereotypical teenage behaviour that it shamed her. She had drunk and danced and fooled around, giggling and shaky on her feet. And is if this hadn't been enough she had ended up losing her virginity that night, something she was still mourning after, as odd as it sounded.

Her emotions towards that particular experience weren't fueled by some traditional mindset, but rather that she didn't even remember the guy with whom she had done it. She remembered a few glimpses but mostly his husky voice, whispering against her sensitive ear, _"Your skin is so soft"_ , and some pain and him still remembering in his equally inebriated mind to roll on a condom before they did the deed. Maka didn't consider herself a romantic; she was far from being one having seen her family fall apart by her father's cheating ways, despite his insistence that he loved her mother a lot. Still, she couldn't help but wish that her first time had been a bit more meaningful than a drunken romp in her childhood friend's room.

She grimaced and shook her head, intent on erasing these memories even though she knew it was next to impossible.

"Maka?"

She squeaked and flinched as she saw Soul waving his hand very closely in front of her face. He was frowning, his mouth pressed into a wry line. "I thought I lost you there for a moment. What were you thinking about?"

She inhaled deeply through her nose, rubbing her arms at the unpleasant chill that invaded her body. "I'd rather not talk about it."

He appeared to be about to protest, his lips parting readily but in the end only a swoosh of air escaped between them as his broad shoulders slumped. "Fine."

"But seriously," he began after a small while, "Are you really gonna drop art and art history now?"  
She shook her head, a million thoughts coursing through her head. "I really don't want to."

"Then don't do it. I'm sure you'll get used to seeing junk after junk." He snickered crudely before he took a large bite of his pizza.

"Idiot", she muttered not so quietly under her breath, eventually taking a hold of her fork to eat up the remains of her lasagna.

"Maybe you should watch porn to get used to it."

"Shut up, Soul! And don't talk with your full mouth, it's gross."

He noisily gulped the food down, grinning snidely at her, his sharp teeth seeming to glint. "Hey, I'm just trying to help. Do you have a better plan?"

At this her anger drained out of her body, a certain kind of fatigue setting in. "I don't know!"

Maybe she really was blowing things out of proportion. Oh, she certainly was. But she couldn't help it. She wished she could ignore her massive uneasiness the moment the model took of his robe to reveal himself in all his glory. It had angered her that she had seemed to be the only one to be affected like this. All the others had this look of pure concentration as they began to sketch. Maka had insistently not lowered her eyes further down than his navel. However, she hadn't lasted even 15 minutes in the end. She had to overcome this...phobia...of hers. But how? She sighed. Had she any other choice besides steadfastly attending the class and hope to get used to the nudity? Dropping the subject was not an option! Maka Albarn never did things by halves.

Lightly nipping at the fat, striped straw of her coke glass, she looked at her Soul. Maybe she should truly take his advice to heart and watch M-rated material. She bit her bottom lip, her brain already protesting vehemently against this option. She glanced shortly at her notes, seeing formulas, partial drawings of the human nervous system and a lot of numbers. Why couldn't she approach Life Model with the same detached concentration as she did with Neurobiology?

Sighing at the cool sensation of coke sliding down her throat, she took her pen and began to doodle randomly. She only noticed it halfway in that she was drawing Soul. Smiling to herself, she risked glances at him whenever he wasn't looking and joined his idle small-talk not to arouse his suspicion.

"Woah! What's this?"

Damn it. Caught!

Soul swiftly snapped the scrap of paper away from her, holding it out in front of him, his eyebrows raised in something she could only interpret as fascination. His red eyes flitted back to her and Maka could feel her self-consciousness growing.

"This is good!"

She couldn't fight back the grateful smile that spread over her face. "You really think so?"

"Yeah. I don't make empty compliments."

She shyly bit her lip. "Thanks."

"You can't drop art. You can do it, Maka."

"I hope so."

As he handed her small drawing back to her, an encouraging grin on his face, she felt a lot better. Maybe she could do it. Soul certainly believed in her and she had to believe in herself too. They spent their lunch with lighthearted chatter, him cracking silly and dumb jokes and her either teasing or laughing when his jokes went into the category of "so bad it's funny." She was glad she had entrusted her insecurities to him, in spite of how embarrassing and difficult it had been. Soul had an uncanny way of making her feel better without her noticing his attempts.

* * *

Maka wasn't sure how she agreed to this. She blamed it on a careless moment in which she lacked a proper sense of judgement. She didn't hesitate however, when he opened the door, greeting her with that grin of his, which spelled a mix of smug and devilish.

"What's up, Bookworm?"

She rolled her eyes with an overly dramatic sigh as she stepped inside, her eyes already scanning her surroundings. She was deeply curious. She had never been to Soul's apartment before. Hanging up her coat and slipping out of her flats, she followed him silently through the hallway. She gasped as she saw his spacious living room with, eyes wide and a mouth that didn't know how to close itself.

"You...you have a freakin' fireplace!"

"Yeah, so?"

"How can you afford such a nice place?"

His smug expression fell, his eyebrows furrowed as his mouth curled into a frown. Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he turned away from her, gruffing out a reply she didn't catch in its entirety. Something about his "old man".

Maka decided not to press the matter further in spite of her curiosity. He obviously didn't feel comfortable about the topic and the last thing she wanted was to make him feel more uncomfortable.

"Do you want something to drink?" She could hear him fumble with the cupboards and the clangour of glass.

"Sure!"

"I only have coke and beer."

She sighed and craning her neck into the direction of the kitchen she said, "I'll have a coke then."

He was next to her on the couch in a matter of seconds, holding the cold glass of coke right in front of her face. She took it gratefully, taking a small sip from it.

"Sooo..." he began. The awkwardness was almost palpable and she avoided his gaze at all costs, instead she gripped the glass in both of her hands, biting her bottom lip. "Should I...just put it in?"

Not trusting her voice, she merely nodded and watched him from the corner of her eyes. He heaved himself from the couch, making his way to the TV, grabbing a DVD along the way. He turned around, catching her curious gaze. "So you're really okay with this?"

She cleared her throat, took another gulp from the coke. "Yes."

Without further ado the DVD was inserted into the DVD player and Soul seated himself next to her with the remote control in his hand.

This was idiotic. Stupid, moronic and absolutely brain-killing in its entirety but after having "chickened out" during another figure drawing class, she had come to the conclusion that more drastic measures had to be taken to prepare herself.

She had decided to watch porn. With Soul. Because he had porn as he had uneasily admitted "but only one from that idiot Black*Star."

"You know..." he said as she determinedly watched the credits, stifling her giggles at the actors' names and the title. Sexcalibur! Candi Roxxx, Lawrence Cox, Lana Slamm, Ron Jam. "You could've just looked for porn in the Internet."

"I...no..."

Of course, it had crossed her mind. The Internet was a grand source for information. And probably the biggest source for pornography. She hadn't been able to go through with it. She couldn't bring herself to taint the Google Search that had always been her loyal and helpful companion during high school and college years.

He sighed. "Couldn't do it, huh?"

She didn't need to say anything. Something that she had noticed about Soul during their shaky friendship in college was that he could read a person really well. And he had apparently categorized her under "readable like a book" and it annoyed her to no end. They remained in silence...until Maka couldn't hold in and released a strained laugh. Amidst all the exaggerated moaning, and big tits and junks and bad acting, Maka lost all apprehension and uneasiness. This was just ridiculous!

 _"Oh, yes! Faster! Harder! Oh, you sexy beast!_ "

She dissolved into helpless, squeaky giggles, slapping a hand over her mouth as Soul looked at her, an eyebrow raised questioningly. She shook her head, wiping the moistness that had gathered in her eyes away.

"What is it?"

She took a deep breath, averting her eyes from the screen to avoid any further unintentional hilarity. "It's just...how can you watch this-" she pointed at the screen but kept her eyes on him, "-with a straight face."

He scoffed and grinned. "I got used to it."

"Don't tell me you find this sexy."

He snorted. "Pfft, no!"

"Why do you have it then?"

"I told you. A present from Black*Star. Said it's his favourite," his grin widened at her horrified face. "Besides, it has sentimental value."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying. There's tons of better and worse stuff on the Internet."

"Soul!"

"What? You wanna check some of it out?"

"No!"

Their little dispute ended with that. They both turned their attention back to the porn, a threesome in its advanced stage greeting her eyes. Soul yawned and stretched his arms, the tips of his fingers lightly grazing the back of her neck, making the fine hairs there rise and her body shiver slightly. For a moment she feared he was actually attempting to put that arm around her shoulders but her fears were assuaged the moment he rested it on the backrest of the comfy couch. She doubted she could have been able to deal with it if Soul did indeed put moves on her. She shuddered.

It only took her another ten minutes and another round of not even half-assed plot, overly enthusiastic moans and groans, humongous, jiggling tits and strained faces to chortle and laugh.

_"More! More! I'm still not satisfied!"_

Her shoulders shook as she tried to hide her laughter but quickly found out that she didn't have to as Soul merrily joined in.

"So you think you're prepared enough for junks?" Soul asked, leaning heavily against the backrest with a sigh. Maka followed his example as her laughter subsided too and she made herself comfortable, the awkwardness of watching porn with her male friend forgotten and kicked into an imaginary trashcan.

"I...think so. But..." she pursed her lips, her brows furrowing as she thought back to the most recent figure drawing class. In class she had to draw the models and they were just posing. They didn't have loud, nasty, obnoxious and unintentionally funny sex.

"This isn't the same."

"What do you mean?"

She glanced back and forth, from his face to her lap and back to the screen before her eyes found his again. "I mean this is really bad...and funny...and-and..."

"Do you want me to get my laptop?"

"What for?"

He grinned, sharp teeth bared, making her shudder. "To look up more porn, of course."

She giggled and playfully smacked his arm shrieking when he retaliated and lunged at her, knocking her back with his large palm.

"Oof. Soul, stop it!" She squeaked when his hand grazed her very ticklish side. Her arms flailed wildly around to defend herself against his wicked hands and fingers making use of her weakness. Eventually he stopped, though he was still smirking down at her as she tried to regain her nerves. She smoothed down the skirt of her dress that had ridden up her thighs short of exposing her panties during their "fight," much to her mortification.

"I was serious you know," he said, putting a respectable distance between their bodies as if realizing just now that getting into a tickle-fight with her might have been a little awkward of a move. "I could just get my laptop and we could up look more stuff for you."

Maka twisted her fingers in the skirt of her dress uncertainly. "I don't know if that will help me any."

He let out a whoosh of air, running a hand through his white, messy hair. "Who knows? Maybe we could look up some quality porn just for you."

She snorted loudly, raising her chin haughtily at his expectant gaze. "Quality porn? Isn't that an oxymoron?"

He blinked. "Only you would use a word like that together with 'porn'. You're such a nerd." He shook his head in mock-exasperation, his lips twitching into an almost-grin at her fuming face. "Wait. I have a better idea."

Maka knew she wasn't going to like his "better idea" but it wasn't like she could bring him to stop talking. He simply loved to tease her, far too much, if she might add.

"How about...you and I make our own porn."

Her cheeks flared with heat as she mercilessly smacked his head, never once heeding his cries and cackles as his arms were raised defensively in front of him. "You idiot!"

"What? Just tryin' to help you."

"Bullshit!" she snapped, ignoring his amazed whistle. "Stop messing around, Soul! This is important."

"What else do you want me to do? You're being a wuss about this whole thing, you know that?"

She gritted her teeth so hard she feared they might be about to crack but this guy was so infuriating even if he was right. His words surely hit a sore spot. She wanted to bash his skull but the only thing that was available for that were her hands, her sketchbook or the glass she had emptied of its coke during the porn. Deciding that her hands would only end up hurting, her sketchbook being too valuable, and that she would do more harm than she intended with the glass, she settled on glowering at him. She would have loved to throw something witty at him but Maka had never been able to articulate her thoughts very well when she was agitated. Then again, he really was trying to help her and she was being irrationally jumpy and angry with him...and everything. Maybe she should-

"Do you want me to strip for you instead?"

"Huh?"

She knew just from his tone that he wasn't being serious about what he had said. But the seed had already been planted...and it grew into a humongous plant of craziness. If he really were to...

Her narrowed eyes widened. Wait...she needed to get used to drawing naked people and she ended up freaking out during class. If he were to really-

"Wait! You aren't really thinking about it, right?"

She cleared her throat uneasily. "Um...maybe I am." She hated it how squeaky her voice ended up being whenever she was nervous but she couldn't dwell on that for long. If...if Soul was really up to it...maybe she could use - she grimaced - him to get used to drawing real, nude people and...and...

"Soul, would you...uh..."

His voice was something between incredulous and aghast and inwardly a small part of her relished in making him lose his cool like that. "You want me to strip for you?"

"No! I mean...I mean, not like that. Can I...just draw you?"

"And you want me naked?"

God, this was so embarrassing!

"Um...if you don't mind then...yes." She shut her eyes, her voice must had broken a new record of most high pitched voice ever because she feared it was enough to break glass. "You could also just...t-take your shirt off. I mean, if you're ready to do it...or feel uncomfortable and if it's okay with you-"

Soul stood up, taking both of their glasses wordlessly with him without sparing her a glance. That was it. Her heart clenched at the thought of Soul being angry with her. She didn't like the prospect of being on bad terms with him. Even though he was snarky and sarcastic beyond belief she still appreciated having him as a friend.

"Well-" his gruff voice startled her out of her panicky thoughts. She looked up and promptly gasped as he hauled his shirt over his head, revealing toned, fine - _very, very fine_ \- abs to her wondrous eyes. "-what do you want me to do?"

She swallowed hard, unable to bring out a coherent word because damn, he was fit! Maka was not one of those girls who got all giggly and wide-eyed at seeing a fine male specimen in front of them. Soul's ...nice physique shouldn't come to her as that much of a surprise. She had seen him plenty of times in t-shirts that exposed his arms perfectly, so she should have caught a glimpse of flexing muscles and-

Only she hadn't. She had never bothered to look at Soul in that way. She had, however, noticed that a lot of girls seemed to flock around him, despite his blatant, to the point of rude, indifference to them. Staring at him now and taking in his gorgeous body, Maka could share the sentiment of some of those girls. But Maka Albarn was not someone to judge a person by their bodies - nice or not. Even though he did look very tantalizing-

She had to focus, damn it! She shook her head, feeling dizzy and light-headed as she kept her eyes fixed never below his neck...though now that she came to think of it, his Adam's apple was kind of distracting as well and-

Shit.

Change of plan then. She wouldn't look further down than his chin...but wait! She had to draw him. Wasn't he doing this because of that in the first place?

"Maka!"

She flinched. "Yes?" Wide, green eyes met slanted, red ones. How could he look so blasé about it? And she realized this was one of those moments Soul was at his coolest even though/because he didn't try to be cool in the first place.

He grinned deviously and once again she was at a loss of what to do. "You wanna help me take these off? They say hands on experience is the best way to learn."

"W-what?"

Her face had to rival tomato ...and what had he just said? He chuckled crudely as he unbuttoned his pants, making her suck in a deep breath and what felt like more blood than it could be physically possible rush to her head. "Wait!" she practically yelled, stretching her arm out in front of her as if it could grow and stop him from discarding his pants. "L-leave your pants on!"

His fingers froze at the zip and she elaborated, "I mean...let's start with you shirtless first...and then maybe, perhaps, you could take off more." She ducked her head, hoping he would hold his tongue and not tease her about her very obvious embarrassment and uneasiness.

"Okay."

She didn't dare to look up and kept her eyes adamantly on her lap. "You, you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"Nah, it's okay. You need help."

Her head snapped up abruptly. She was acting in a very silly way. Her friend was ready to strip down for her and she still couldn't get over herself. She was 21, damn it! She needed to get a hold of herself and get shit done.

She shook her head as she fetched her sketchbook, a fire rekindled inside of her, the zeal to finally get out of her slump and accomplish something figuratively hitting her in the face, making her jump back into action. She could do this...no, she _was going to_ do this.

"So what do you want me to do?"

She pursed her lips together, eyebrows furrowing as she thoughtfully tapped her chin. "I think you should just...make some random poses at first."

He looked uncertain, his head tilted slightly to the side. "You know, I've never done this before."

She nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. "I know. Just give it a try."

He still didn't look convinced but didn't press the matter further for which she was very grateful. She sat stiffly on the couch as he stood awkwardly in the centre of the room, looking a bit lost. She bit her lip, readying her charcoals and her drawing block, trying to busy herself as she waited for Soul to get ready.

Awkward was an understatement, yet when he gave her his cue that he was ready, she tried to get rid of the uneasiness that seemed to be clawing at her neck and made her palms moist with sweat. She couldn't have that; it would ruin the papers of her block.

Pretty soon into their odd drawing session Maka realized that letting Soul randomly pose had not been a good idea. Not because he wasn't good at it; no, it was quite the opposite, he seemed to be made for modelling. But...when he stretched and turned...and his muscles flexed. She gulped. This was bad! Okay, Soul had a nice body but she couldn't get distracted.

They had eventually settled on a simple pose. He was currently half-leaning, half-sitting on the window sill, looking out of the window to God knows where. He had forgotten to button his pants back but leaving it open at the front with his silky boxers peaking out, just gave the whole image _something_ she couldn't properly define. Maybe a certain sensuality to it, leaving the maybe racy activities of the previous night more implied than anything.

Coupled with his tousled hair and his droopy eyes, it made the image of "just got out of bed" perfect.

She prided herself for the calm she managed to keep, despite the way her heart raced as she traced the curve of his neck and began to outline the shape of his shoulders. He wasn't exactly buff but he was endowed with lean, wiry muscles that had to have made more than a few women swoon. Maka briefly wondered what his muscles would feel like if she ran a hand over them but quickly squashed that thought like a puny, dirty fly that had continuously been annoying her until she got fed up with it.

She was done with it in about an hour. It wasn't her best work by any means but it was decent. She liked to draw with as many details as possible, liked to capture every blemish and imperfection to create a work of beauty that didn't dwell on the illusion of perfection. This drawing was rather quickly drawn and she pursed her lips because she could have done so much better.

"Hey, you're really good at this."

His voice so close to her ear surprised her so much that she jumped away from him. He was still shirtless. He grinned rakishly at her as he slowly buttoned his trousers. She didn't know if it was simply her overactive imagination or if he indeed seemed to be intent on holding her gaze throughout the short process of zipping his pants and buckling his belt. He took the drawing carefully from her loose grasp and examined it closely. She fidgeted, feeling very self-conscious.

"It's not that good."

"I see. You're nothing if falsely humbled."

"That's not true! I really could have done better." Her eyes were blazing as she felt her discomfort ebb away only to be replaced by irritation.

"Whatever you say, bookworm." He handed her the drawing back and walked over where he had haphazardly discarded his shirt earlier, pulling it over his head the moment he grasped it. Inwardly, a deeply hidden part of her bemoaned his now fully shirted self as he was so nice to look at but her inner prude was way stronger and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you think you'll be able to handle your class now?" he asked as he closely watched her, leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. She busied herself with collecting her stuff together neatly and tried not to stare at his very distracting biceps because even on their slightly contracted form like now they were very eye-catching. She cautiously packed her drawing block into her bag, being extra careful with the edges.  
"We'll see," she said as he silently accompanied her to the door, holding it open for her as she put on her flats. She hastily stepped over the doorstep, turned around to bid him a quick goodbye and made her way down the stairs, her ears faintly registering his spluttered "Bye".


	2. The Grand Reveal

Maka yawned loudly, too tired to care to hide her open mouth with a hand. She hadn't been able to sleep because of a reason that mortified her to no end. She grimaced and rubbed her eyes furiously. There was something wrong with her, most definitely. Her dear friend had just taken his shirt off and now the majority of her night had been wasted with thinking about him and his delicious shirtless self. She froze, her hands dropping to her lap, and grimaced anew. _His delicious shirtless self_? It just couldn't be that she was seriously entertaining such frivolous thoughts about her friend.

She clenched her fists, willing herself to erase all traces of images that in some way had to do with Soul...and his gorgeous and well-muscled body. Her fists unclenched and her eyes narrowed dangerously. No fucking way.

Before she could busy herself further with Soul's anatomy, the art instructor Mr. Noah walked in. He was the epitome of the eccentric artist with his reputed extensive collection of modern art pieces and his rather unique way of dressing. If Maka were to judge him shallowly, she would describe him as fashion-challenged but such things had never interested nor bothered her.

Someone near her sighed very loudly and despite her intention to listen closely to Mr. Noah she looked at the source of the sigh. Oh, it was...Gopher. She gritted her teeth. Of course, this wasn't his real name but Maka had really no idea what it was, something she wasn't really proud of. She had overheard some other students gossiping about him and had thus only caught the derisive and derogatory nickname that they called him. That and - she winced - Emoticon-Face. Yes, she had some very dick-ish fellow students.

She knew it was rude to stare, but his dreamy gaze directed at something/someone had already piqued her interest. She followed the direction of his eyes, far too curious for her own good, and was surprised and aghast to notice that they seemed to be permanently glued on Mr. Noah. She frowned and shook her head, not allowing herself to think too deeply about the whats and whys. At least, that was what she attempted to do.

She turned in her seat, facing her canvas stiffly. Did he have a crush on Mr. Noah? The thought was kind of disturbing, not to mention inappropriate wanting to be with your teacher. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and was slightly displeased to see that he looked even more smitten than before with his hands clutched together in front of the centre of his chest. Her frown deepened. She wondered if Mr. Noah knew of this, though she doubted it.

But what if he did? Was he...was he receptive of his students affections?

She muffled a disgruntled squeak behind her hand. She really shouldn't be thinking about unsettling stuff like that.

She felt more relieved than stressed for the first time since she had attended this class from hell. Mr. Noah wasn't a man to beat much around the bush, unless he was talking about his collection, and he got right down to business.

"Today we're gonna do a 15 minute quick study and concentrate on the flow and movement of the anatomy."

The instructions were easy enough. She steeled her nerves and squared her shoulders, her lips setting into a thin line. She was going to do this! The drawing session with Soul would not go to waste.

And in came the model.

Usually, nude models came into the drawing room clad only in a robe, which they would discard when they reached their designated position and posed. This model however seemed to have forgone the idea of wearing a robe to preserve the last vestiges of his modesty altogether. He was totally naked and walking briskly, so briskly in fact that it almost looked like he was skipping.

Maka shrank back in her seat, shoulders slumping and face heating up as the people around her tried to hush their laughter and giggles.

His...thing was _jiggling_.

She was certain at this point steam had to come out of her ears. Her cheeks felt incredibly hot. She averted her eyes for a short moment but couldn't contain herself and looked up once again.

It was jiggling as if it was made for jiggling, as if it was waving the entire room his Hello.

Maka felt her resolve wavering. She was very much inclined to pack her things and make a quick dash for the door silently without being noticed as she had done so twice before.

But...

She couldn't possibly cop out _again_.

She had to master this. She had talent, she could do it! Besides, Soul would never ever let her hear the end of it. He would tease her mercilessly about it up to their graduation and even beyond that...that is, if they will still happen to be in contact.

It took her another look at the hairy dick of the model and she was dissuaded from staying. She stealthily made her way out of the room, a heavy lump in her throat and a bitter taste in her mouth.

* * *

She had to give it to him, he wasn't as cruel with his teasing as she had expected him to be. He had only laughed for a minute or so before he had called her a "lightweight" and ruffled her hair. Maka didn't know how to deal with his affectionate gesture, only that he was doing that a lot more lately. It made her heart flutter in her chest that he, who was usually rather anti-social and shortspoken, was indeed feeling so comfortable around her.

She pouted petulantly as she smoothed a hand through her tousled hair.

"You failed."

She crossed her arms over her chest, glowering at him with all the anger she could muster and all the while hoping she didn't look like an enraged poodle. He only chortled in response, not even giving the pretence of being apologetic. Unable to keep her annoyance up any more, she let her arms languidly drop to her sides, deflating and feeling spiritless and weary at her repeated failure.

Her eyes were dull and listless, spelling a resignation that was very unbefitting of her. Any amusement left Soul's demeanor as his mouth set into a scowl and he poked her forehead.

"Stop it," she hissed slapping his hands away and rubbing the sore spot more forcefully than it was necessary.

He grumbled an apology. She didn't feel like saying anything, her utter inability to look at a stupid junk still fresh on her mind. They lapsed into a rather uneasy silence, which was halfheartedly filled whenever she took a sip from the lukewarm coffee Soul had made for her.

As she was still busy wallowing in self-pity, it was Soul who broke the quietness with words as opposed to her method of slurping a beverage.

"Do you want to draw me again? Maybe that'll help."

She sighed heavily, putting the cup down sluggishly. "I already drew you and it didn't help, obviously."

"Yes, but..." he trailed off, sharp teeth burying in his bottom lip briefly before he spoke up again, "I was only shirtless though. Maybe it'll help you more if I, you know, get naked."

"Oh." A blush was inevitable and she didn't give in to the delusion she could fight it. Her cheeks burned scarlet and she lowered her head, her bangs partially shielding her eyes from his inquisitive gaze. "I don't want you to do something you aren't comfortable with."

It _might_ help her. In a private drawing session she wasn't under any pressure. Neither would there be any judging eyes nor a creepily stealthy art instructor around her. She could take all the time she needed to _look_ at him, to truly observe his body and study it. She would have time to compose herself if she happened to freak out and she could draw with ease and calmness. But she felt bad. She was already constantly whining at him and she didn't want to unintentionally guilt-trip him into helping her and put him into such a state of vulnerability.

"You know, I wouldn't make the offer in the first place if I felt uncomfortable or something."

She tentatively gazed up at him, finding him faintly smiling down at her, being totally earnest and not appearing to be uncomfortable at all. Her lips curled into a tiny smile as she exhaled deeply through her nose, her body relaxing and her mind wiped blank from insecurities and thoughts of failure.

This phase, however, only lasted until they had made their way to his bedroom and he had stripped down to his boxers. Maka had reverted to the jittery and awkward and jumpy girl she was in figure drawing. Soul looked at her pointedly, waiting for the instructions that weren't coming. Maka tried to ignore the warmth his body seemed to be practically oozing, tried to ignore that she was standing so very close to the abs she had been thinking about far too much. She took a deep breath, willing herself to get her fucking act together before she fainted from too much blood rushing to her face with such force and speed.

Swallowing her nervousness down, she tried to think of a good pose. Even if she could barely function out of mortification, she still wanted to deliver good work. She clenched her fists determinedly, glancing at Soul for only a few seconds before an idea hit her. She kept her instructions short and simple and held her breath when Soul's fingers wandered to his boxers. He pulled them down and Maka just caught a tiny glimpse of his covered skin before she snapped her head to the side so forcefully she feared she might have given herself whiplash.

She heard the quiet noise of his boxers hitting the floor and she had no idea how she was supposed to draw him when she always ended up like this.

"Maka?" He touched her shoulder, light as a feather and it still made her gasp; even still she only allowed her eyes to not gaze further up than his knees, bludgeoning any chances of seeing his junk in her periphery. "Look at me."

She squeaked pitifully and shook her head, her jaw and shoulders tense. His fingers dug into her scrawny shoulder. She could nearly feel his deepening glare at her stubbornness.

"Listen," he began, the low timbre of his voice calmed her slightly, "If you feel that uncomfortable, let's stop. But if you wanna do this then you have to l-look at me."

She was close to sagging into a small ball of misery right at his feet. He was right. She swallowed hard, gritting her teeth and slowly looked up to stare into his eyes. They were a warm shade of burgundy, the encouragement in them assuaged her fears and allayed her frayed nerves.

"You okay? Your face is red." His tone seemed to be stuck between amused and worried and she didn't know how to react to that so she simply replied with a curt nod. Her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed as she dared to take him in completely.

Exhaling sharply, she let her gaze travel down his torso, silently marveling at his build. Lower her eyes went. This time she didn't grant herself the luxury of stopping when she reached his hip bone but instead travelled further down and...there it was! Obviously. Where else should it be?

Her neutral gaze transformed into a shameless stare as she studied the most private part of her friend's anatomy. She didn't know to what standards she was supposed to hold him. Compared to the hairy dick of the last model she had laid her eyes upon, Soul's...looked better, she guessed, but compared to the dicks she had to look at in the porn movie he was smaller. She assumed that it was required for them to be big or something. It faintly hit her that she wasn't supposed to hold the penis of her friend to any standard at all. She wasn't necessarily supposed to like his body. She just had to draw him and manage to remain fully conscious during the whole process.

"Uh, Maka?" He sounded nervous and when she thought about it as much as it was possible with her brain seeming to have taken the form of Swiss cheese, he had every right to feel nervous when she was staring at his dick like it was a world wonder or something.

Mumbling a breathy apology, she settled on looking at his face once more, only to catch his adorable blush. He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. She felt a bit bad for making him feel so uneasy about it, but on the other hand she was far too entranced by seeing him give a reaction that wasn't cool, aloof or spelled crude indifference.

"Umm, you should get on the bed," she said shakily.

He raised his eyebrows, a devilish grin spreading on his face. "Don't you think this is going a bit fast? No foreplay and-"

"Soul! Get on the bed so I can draw you."

He raised his hands defensively, "Sorry, sorry. Lame joke, I know."

She didn't say anything, just watched him as he casually flopped down on his large bed. Okay, this was her moment to keep a cool head and remain professional and NOT OGLE HIS CHEST! She shook her head feverishly, willing her body to move to gather her supplies. Much to her dismay it didn't take her long enough to calm down and-

"Draw me like one of your French girls."

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt, her eyes flitting over to him to verify if she had heard correctly -only to see him lying on his side, a pose that was supposed to be alluring. She blinked until her slow brain assessed properly what he had just said, her lips curving into a smile.

"Silly Soul," she muttered fondly under her breath.

His face spelled mock indignation as he put a palm against his chest. "Whaaat? Is it too much I ask of you? Maybe I should pose with a baguette to make it more authentically French."

A laugh bubbled up in her throat, her shoulders shaking with her giggles. She truly appreciated his silly comments. She felt the awkwardness around her melt away and the tension leave her body.

"Or maybe...," he trailed off, doing a great job of looking sincerely thoughtful, "I should get an Eiffel Tower or something, you know one of those miniature figures."

"What?" She snorted loudly, trying to cover the noise up with a cough. Her cheeks were starting to hurt from the constant grinning.

"An Eiffel Tower, I should get one."

"Soul, where would you get an Eiffel Tower figure?"

"I dunno. But come to think of it, I already have one."

"Haah?"

His gaze shifted not to subtly south. A millisecond of confusion and it eventually dawned on her. "Pfft...the worst!" And there was no stopping her laughter. "You- you admit you have an Eiffel Tower down there, one of those miniature figures?"

And she laughed harder at his expression, which could only be described as crestfallen.

"NO! I didn't mean it like that! I mean just an Eiffel Tower down there, not the miniature version..."

She chortled loudly, trying to hold back another round of laughter back for his sake. She failed miserably.  
At this rate they were never going to get done but at this moment as she wiped away she tears from her eyes, she couldn't care less. Soul flushed a bright red and for a moment she thought he was pouting, making her almost feel bad.

"You brought this on to yourself," she breathed out and then inhaling deeply, she continued, "You started talking about miniature Eiffel Towers and-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Who knew you'd go from blushing maiden to making dick jokes so quickly."  
He chuckled lowly at her sudden silence aside from her choking on her own spit. "How did it go again? _J'ai une Tour Eiffel dans mes pantalon_ or something." At her questioning gaze he added, "It's the only French I know besides _Voulez-vous coucher avec moi._ And don't ask me what it means, you don't want to know."

Nevermind that she already knew what it meant even if she never had had French. Maka didn't know much about the language but she had a vague knowledge of how words were supposed to be pronounced, a lot of it being nasal and rather soft. Soul didn't bother with it, at all. She muffled another giggle behind her hand, biting her lip to keep any noises that might come out of her mouth under control.

"That's what I meant with Eiffel Tower, nothing small included because it would be totally untrue to call it small."

At this her eyes flitted to his junk. "No, not small...I think."

He squirmed a bit. "What do you mean _you think_? Are you trying to tell me something there?" He turned his head away, huffish and embarrassed at her unintentional jab at his manly pride.

She grinned cheekily as she stood up, her hands clasped together behind her back. "Nope."

Maybe she was being too mean with him; his head was still turned away with her and his eyes closed stubbornly. "Soooouuul," she called out, a small whine in her voice. "I was just joking."

He regarded her with one eye, still peeved and disgruntled, and before she had the chance to apologize, his lips stretched into a taunting grin. "I know and it goes both ways, Tiny Tits."

She gasped and her cheeks flushed heatedly, more out of anger than embarrassment. He sat up, propping himself on his elbows and Maka couldn't even concentrate on being irritated with him because she had now the perfect view of his contracted biceps. She gulped loudly, closing her mouth, mortified at the prospect that she might have been very close to drooling.

"But there's nothing wrong with having tiny tits," he said nonchalantly.

She contemplated if it would be okay to knock him unconscious with one of her books but ultimately decided against it, having gotten a better idea. She gave him a sugary sweet smile, which made his features twist with suspicion.

"Neither is anything wrong with having a miniature Eiffel Tower."

* * *

After much bantering and teasing and half-hearted insults, they managed to begin their drawing session. In the end, she had decided to have his lower part covered. He hadn't failed to tease her about it, of course. This time, it was less her uneasiness about nudity, and more because she really thought this pose was nice. He was lying on his stomach, his head cushioned on his folded arms. His back was totally bare and only a thin blanket was covering his legs and just a part of his delectable ass, leaving the upper part teasingly exposed.

She had to admit it hadn't been easy to concentrate on drawing initially. But by now, she had gotten the hang of drawing while not getting distracted by her friend's gorgeous body. She marveled at his sculpted shoulders, the way his shoulder blades jutted out and the slope of his spine. His skin looked especially nice to touch. Despite spending as much inside as she did, if not more, his skin was still a few shades darker than hers. She wondered how it would feel if she touched him, would his skin be soft or maybe rough?

Well, maybe she still was getting distracted by his body. Such lack of control was so unlike her. She frowned lightly.

She really shouldn't be thinking about touching Soul in that way. She refused to define even in her head what she really meant with "that way". She shook her head, letting herself drift into a hazy reverie, taking comfort in the quiet scratching noises of the charcoal. Shading was particularly a delight as she could stare and analyze how the light fell on his muscles in great detail. She couldn't really use the same excuse when she was left staring at his ass though, but by that point, with a cramping hand and her palm stained in charcoal, she didn't care much.

It looked so firm! It was practically inviting her to touch it.

What was wrong with her?

She never ever used to entertain perverted thoughts like that. In fact, she was the girl who would reprimand the girls who only had sex on their minds. Her first experience might or might not play a role in that. She bit her lip roughly, her mood darkening instantly. This was no time to think about that! She pushed that memory into the farthest recesses of her mind, concentrating on her drawing and thus on Soul's body.

She was doing a shit job of being professional. She kept ogling him, enjoying this drawing session too much. It was inappropriate. She sighed and placed her block carefully on her lap, lifting her hands to her face to rub her tired eyes. She wondered if he had fallen asleep...with his eyes open. He hadn't moved at all and his gaze was fixated always on the same spot. Maybe he had been looking at her the whole time. Had he been really watching her...like she had been watching him? She cleared her throat, the silence making her feel like she was being suffocated. Still no reaction.

She had lost all track of time, didn't know how much time she spent with Soul and only their breaths and the scratching of charcoal against paper filling the quietness between them.

* * *

Maka felt a bit nervous today. This time, however, it wasn't the apprehensive kind of nervousness that made her limbs freeze with dread but more of an anticipatory kind of nervousness. She couldn't wait until the class started because this time she was going to sit the whole session through. She barely suppressed a grin. She squirmed impatiently in her seat, giddy to finally be able to show what she was capable of. She was going to rock this thing!

She exhaled deeply when Mr. Noah finally entered the room and out of curiosity she risked a glance at Gopher, who was sitting a bit farther away from her than last time.

And yes, he got that dreamy look in his eyes again. She was sure if it weren't physically impossible, his irises would become heart-shaped or something. Maka shuddered and shook her head. She couldn't care less what the students around her were doing even though this case thoroughly weirded her out.

Once again, Mr. Noah kept his instructions short, the model stepping in immediately after, this time someone who was gracious enough to come with a robe. He was kind of old though, having more gray hair than black, wrinkles evident on his face and he had this warm smile on his face. She wondered why a man at that age would model completely in the nude.

Maka congratulated herself for flinching only slightly when he got rid of his robe. Pressing her lips together firmly and narrowing her eyes in determination, she grabbed her charcoal, raking her gaze up and down the models body, wincing at his withered and shriveled dick.

Now she was being unfair. That man was already older and the only comparison she had were the men in the porn she had watched and...Soul. This man had never stood a chance to-

What the hell?

Why was she judging the level of attractiveness of the models now? She groaned lowly, tiredly rubbing her left eye. Those were people she had to draw and not compare them to Soul. Intent on erasing all thoughts and images that were practically engraved to the back of her eyelids, she focused on the model again, raising her hand to the easel, starting with the faintest of outlines. Oh yes, this was finally her moment to shine. No dick in the world would make her cover in embarrassment ever again!

A few minutes in and she had forgotten the world around her, fully concentrating on her drawing always keeping the instructions of Mr. Noah in the back of her mind. That and she was unable to keep small flashes of Soul coming to the forefront of her eyes either. Oh well, she could live with that.

Time seemed to pass by especially quickly this time around and she startled out of her daze when Mr. Noah's voice drifted over to her, telling them to stop. She was bit nervous for the next part, her heart hammering so loudly in her chest she was wondering why the others hadn't complained about the noise yet. Her jaw was tense and her palms sweaty as she gulped and turned her easel so that the others could see her picture. She bit her lip roughly as one by the one the others mimicked her. Damn, they were good!

Well, they hadn't chickened out like her the first few times and had time to improve their skills.

"The arms are too long for the torso."

"You've put great detail into the hair and you did well on muscle form!"

"Try to make the lines a little bit darker next time."

"That is NOT where it's supposed to go."

"Well done with the shading."

She was getting progressively more nervous the nearer her turn to receive critiques came. At least, they were all constructive with their criticism and gave good pointers how to improve certain things. She tried to participate as much as she could, trying to swallow her nervousness down with mixed results. They all seemed particularly vicious with Gopher though, and Maka didn't understand why. Sure, his drawing wasn't remarkable but it wasn't awful either. So basically that left her with the conclusion that he was simply being criticized because he was...Gopher. Maka frowned. They were being so...mean, for the lack of a better word.

"And the head is way too big for the body. You really need to work on propor-"

"Ah, but I don't think so," Maka cut in, drawing too many surprised glances into her direction to her liking. Ignoring the baffled expressions, she continued, "Sure, the head could have been a little bit smaller but all in all you got the proportions right. The spacing between the eyes could have been a little bit wider but the proportions of the face are done very well, the same with the body. It's a pity that the head has come out a bit too big; otherwise it would have been a great picture."

She offered him tentative smile, trying to look encouraging. He looked surprised for a moment but then his eyes hardened, his lips twitched and she wasn't sure if he wanted to return her smile or just scowl at her.

"I agree with Miss Albarn," Mr. Noah said calmly and then turning to her, he added, "Now what do you have to say about her drawing?"

She gulped, her spine stiffening and her shoulders tensing. She adamantly refused to let any of her inner panic slip to the outside. She was going to take everything they were going to throw at her in stride. Yep, definitely.

"I think, your picture is perfect!"

"Huh?" She startled, her eyes growing wide at the blatant praise. She eyed the girl warily, not excluding the possibility that she might have been sarcastic. She had spent too much time with Soul, seeing sarcastic as the default mood of practically everyone she encountered. Not that she was familiar with many people. She vaguely recalled the girl's name as Tsugumi and only because it was a Japanese name that really stood out amidst the many common English names.

"No, really. From the shading to the proportions, I can't find any faults."

"Oh, thank you."

"Hmm I have to agree. Considering this is your first work I see, you've done remarkably well."

What? Even Mr. Noah was complimenting her? She blinked dumbly, demurely mumbling another "thank you."

"Maybe you should make your lines a little darker though. At some parts it looks like you have barely touched the paper," another one said, his voice gruff but not impolite. "Look at his thighs for example and the pelvic area. It looks too light in comparison to the rest."

She nodded stiffly, keeping that in mind.

"Yeah and I also thing the arms look a little bit off," Gopher said, his eyes cold and calculating, though what he seemed to be calculating Maka couldn't tell, neither did she understand what he thought was wrong with the arms she had drawn. Yet she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to give the impression of a shrew who couldn't take criticism.

"What do you mean by that?" Mr. Noah asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully and coming closer to examine her drawing more thoroughly.

Gopher sighed heavily. "They just seem wrong to me. It might be the shading, I think."

Mr. Noah hummed musingly. "Do the others agree with that?"

There was a collective "No" and several heads shaking in dissent and Maka felt her shoulders slump with relief and a certain kind of happiness. She looked curiously at Gopher and almost jumped when she saw the glare he was sending her way. What was wrong with him? Had she done something to offend him or what? Hey, she had been one of the very few people to defend him when was being criticized by some particularly mean-spirited students. She scrunched up her nose. She wouldn't take his shit. He hadn't even been able to tell why he thought her picture looked off. Did he really think it didn't look good or was he for some reason pissed at her.

Judging from his intensifying glare, Maka picked the latter possibility.


	3. Banters, Conversations and Huge Things

"You really think that guy has a crush on your instructor?" He sounded disbelieving and amused at the same time.

She hummed absentmindedly, slightly distracted by his broad shoulders. Her brows furrowed when she belatedly processed his question. "I think so and he seems to hate me for some reason."

He snorted and she could picture how his face had to look at the moment. Lips curved into a grin, sharp teeth glinting and slanted eyes flashing with sardonic amusement. "Why? Did you get it on with the instructor and make that guy jealous."

She pressed the charcoal so forcefully against the paper that it broke in half. "Eww, Soul!"

"Calm down. I'm just joking."

"This is not a joking matter! You're so...urgh! As if I'd ever start something with that guy."

"Not your type, huh?"

"Even if he were my type, I'd never think of dating him because he's my art instructor."

He merely snickered and they fell into a somewhat companionable silence after that. It was odd. She didn't need another private lesson with Soul to draw him as she had done well enough in class. They had nevertheless ended up like this: Soul fully nude with his back turned to her. It had been a weird back and forth with her recounting how she had managed to perform well in class and him still offering that she could always come back to him if she needed his help again. She was far from complaining but still...it was just weird.

This time, she had settled on drawing just his back up to his shoulders. He had teased her about being a perv and only being interested in his body. Naturally, it had lead to another round of banter. She smiled gently, her stomach feeling funny with its... _fluttery-ness_ making her kind of giddy and jumpy but not necessarily in a bad way. It made her feel warm all over, comfortable and...nice. She didn't want to analyze what it precisely was, content as it was now and fearing that if she poked too deep into this matter, her world would end up in utter disarray and chaos.

Once again, it was him who broke the silence.

"Hey, are you still in touch with the guys from high school?"

Her head jerked up the slightest bit. "Huh? Why are you asking?"

"Just curious."

"Uh, from time to time I talk to Liz and Tsubaki and sometimes even Kid."

Well, it wasn't a lie but she had maybe talked what? Once or twice to Kid since she had arrived here. Granted, she talked more often with Liz and Tsubaki but those instances were still few and far in between. Her heart clenched. She really should call her old friends more often.

"Wait? Liz...Thompson, right?"

"Yes."

"And the principal's son and Tsubaki was the chick who always hung around with Black*Star."

"Hmm. Though I never got why she bothered with that idiot."

He let out a laugh. "Could ask the same to you."

She puffed her cheeks up, letting memories - pleasant, stupid, unpleasant, disgusting, happy ones alike - she had unconsciously pushed away come back. Her lips curved into a fond smile when she recalled her boisterous childhood friend. "Well, there was no getting around Black*Star."

"Heh, yeah. He was such an idiot, I have no idea how he managed to graduate."

"Yes, he was and probably still is an idiot but when it came down to it you could always count on him."

"Yeah. Maybe that's why Tsubaki got along with him so well."

"Tsubaki got along well with everyone. She can't dislike anyone and vice versa."

"Except when she's drunk."

"What? Tsubaki? Drunk? When and where?"

His low chuckles had her senses awash with pleasant tingles and her fingers quivering, the low timbre of his voice sounding too sensuous for someone who never tried to be sensual or...sexy. She grimaced, glowering down at her half-finished drawing as if it was at fault for her...could it be called a predicament?

"You remember that big party at Black*Star's place in senior year, one or two months before we graduated?"

She frowned and nodded solemnly before she mentally slapped herself as he couldn't see her with his back turned to her. "Yes, I do," she muttered. There was no way she could erase that party from her memories, not with what had happened, not with how she was repeatedly reminded of her embarrassing irresponsibleness, getting piss drunk like that and ending up having sex with a stranger. That could have backfired a lot more spectacularly, going beyond just having such a sucky first time.

What if in their drunken stupor they had failed to roll on the condom properly? She could have gotten pregnant or worse she could have gotten an STD. She clenched her teeth, her hands flattening against her drawing block before her fingers curled tightly around the edges. Why did Soul have to bring that horrible party up?

"Uh, Maka?"

She jumped, startled out of her regretful contemplation of those events. He turned around slightly, looking at her over his shoulder before she could reprimand him for messing with his pose.

"What's wrong, Maka?"

"Nothing," she sighed. Forcing a smile on her face, she continued, "You were about to tell me something about a drunk Tsubaki."

Even from this angle she could see his brows furrowing; clearly, he wasn't convinced of her admittedly fragile facade of curiosity. Any other time she might have been very eager to hear the story of a drunk Tsubaki. She was always so docile and shy and responsible. Responsible enough that Maka was absolutely sure that whatever shenanigans her old friend had had gotten herself into, they had to have been funny and amusing rather than mortifying and absolutely brain-killing, defying any commonsense and reasonability.

"Maka, is there something you want to tell me?"

She hissed quietly. Damn him and his perceptiveness and damn her inability to mask her emotions.

"N-no. Not yet, at least," she smiled sadly, hoping he would just drop it.

His shoulders slumped and she heard his heavy intake of breath. "Fine."

She was eternally grateful that he wasn't pushing the matter further. If he wanted to be, Soul could be very considerate and tactful. She was glad she had such a good friend. Speaking of friendship...hadn't she enjoyed staring at his ass too much for their _thing_ still to be labeled "friendship"? Even though she was immensely dense when it came to things like this, Maka couldn't deny that she found Soul very attractive. And it distracted her. She feverishly shook her head. "You were saying about Tsubaki?"

They spent the rest of the evening talking, reminiscing about their years in high school, about their crazy teachers, about prom, about Black*Star having once ran through the school naked because he was dared to, about drunk Tsubaki, who according to Soul became the complete antithesis of who she normally was when she was piss drunk, when she started to cuss like a sailor and pushed one of the rudest people in their grade into the swimming pool and about Doctor Stein's and Miss Mjolnir's budding romance that had been the topic number one amongst professional gossipers.

Time passed and soon her drawing was mostly forgotten, and when they both got tired and she was about to leave he convinced her to stay the night because outside "it's dangerous and stuff."

She had smiled, a part of her happy she didn't have to walk back and the other part nervous. Then again, the nervousness vanished into thin air because she couldn't feel uncomfortable around Soul for long. She drifted off to sleep with Soul's fatigued voice relaying her the story of how he and his brother had been exploring New York City by themselves only to get promptly lost and almost robbed if it hadn't been for their mother, who "spartan kicked the thugs where it hurts the most."

It was a nice way to spend the night.

* * *

"How come my drawings are lot more detailed than the others?" Soul asked holding a few of her pictures up, eyes narrowed in deep contemplation.

She ignored him in favour of her homework, an article about how nitric oxide can alter brain function, and groaned as he playfully nudged her shoulder. She muttered something about aiming for another style when she drew him. She hoped he didn't notice her blush because it was a bold faced lie. More details with his pictures because she actually liked to look at him and pay attention to everything that was him, especially his-

"Damn, I have a great ass."

She choked on her own spit, her cheeks heating up another 30 or so degrees.

"I thought you had homework to do too?" she grumbled, sticking her face closer to the article and hoping he wouldn't remark upon how his _great ass_ was looking slightly better than the rest of the drawing.

"Urgh, I do."

"Then do it," she snapped without glancing up, "It's a wonder you've made it this far with how lazy you are."

She could _hear_ the grin in his voice. "It takes a lot of talent."

She snorted as he plopped down next to her on her worn couch with a heavy sigh. She rolled her eyes at another over-dramatic sigh escaping his lips and the very, very slow and sluggish way he took his books and notes out of his backpack.

"Hey, do you want a tea or coffee maybe?" she asked, sitting up straight, rolling her shoulders leisurely.

"Sure, thanks. I'll take a coffee."

She nodded and made her way to her small kitchen, getting two cups out of the cupboard and the half-empty box of coffee powder. She absentmindedly watched out of the small window, noting to clean it later when Soul had left. Although depending on how the evening progressed, he might be staying over.

The last two months had passed in a blur. Spring Break had come and gone. She had mostly visited her father for a few days but hadn't gotten the chance to see most of her friends from high school as their break was earlier and their classes had already started again. She had managed to see Black*Star on a Saturday, though. It had been equally fun as it was embarrassing and disconcerting since he spent so much time talking about his wild parties. She had even fleetingly seen Soul for an hour or so back home and they had decided to take the same plane back.

Soul and she had grown much closer the past months or maybe...they had always been quite close but it was now that she realized the real extent of their bond. They spent nearly every day together, they had left some of their stuff - clothes, toothbrushes, toiletries - at the other's place in case someone would sleep over. They had even kept up their little drawing sessions even though she was by now perfectly at ease in figure drawing class. Well, maybe not perfectly at ease, but she was doing a lot better; so much better in fact that she didn't need Soul to strip and pose for her but that was another story altogether.

The first time he had come over to her tiny apartment, Maka had been very self-conscious as her place looked pretty shabby compared to his. Even though he was pretty much the epitome of a slacker, his apartment was always spotless and clean.

In the end, it hadn't mattered. Why she had been thinking that Soul wouldn't like it was beyond her grasp by now. Soul wasn't shallow or judgmental like that and even though it had never been a secret that his family was pretty wealthy, he never was one to flaunt it. Not that Maka could complain about her financial situation really. Her dad was financially stable and paid her university fees. She had protested against it initially, not wanting the money of the man who had torn their family apart but by now she appreciated his support, however begrudgingly.

She snapped out of her reverie when her electric kettle automatically shut off. Filling their cups with the boiled water, she made her way back to the living room, much to her dismay finding Soul not doing his homework but instead zapping from channel to channel. She scowled disapprovingly, setting his cup in front of him forcefully, causing the black liquid inside to swirl and tip over the edge of the cup a bit.

"Thanks."

She seated herself next to him, carefully blowing against the hot liquid. "You're welcome, and why did you turn the TV on?"

"I was bored."

She furrowed her brows. She couldn't believe this guy. "You haven't even started on your homework, right?"

"Nope."

"And you got bored."

"Yes."

She sighed. "You're unbelievable."

"Heh, I've been repeatedly told so. Thanks,"

"That wasn't meant to be a compliment!"

"Whatever you say, Bookworm."

She huffed and took a small sip from her coffee, watching Soul from the corner of her eyes as he laughed at a silly sex joke that was said in a generic sitcom. A few minutes into the stupid sitcom, with Soul chuckling from time to time and her pretending to be engrossed in her article, he still didn't seem to have even the slightest intention to turn the TV off to concentrate on his homework. It irritated her and made her wonder how they ended up being so close despite their vastly different personalities and outlooks on life. She wanted to scold him, tell him he was being irresponsible and that he could always watch TV when he was done with work but kept her mouth shut, knowing scolding Soul would only result with him teasing her. She was apparently very fun to tease as he had pointed out to her very often.

"Soul?" she said after a while, her eyes having grown tired of rereading the same passage over and over again but not making any sense of it.

"Hmm?"

"I never got to ask you what you did during your Spring Break."

He shifted next to her and even though she wasn't looking at him she could feel his eyes on her. He had a certain routine when he was thinking: he would run a hand through his hair and unknowingly or not, his eyes would narrow in contemplation and he would slightly part his lips.

"Wow, that's random. Homework that boring?"

She growled lowly, her teeth gritting as she smacked his arm. "No, I'm just curious. No need to be a jerk about it."

He scoffed and slapped her elbow in retribution."Don't get so touchy, I'm just messing with you." At her annoyed glare, he continued with a grin, "Well, I was just home, spent time with my parents and Wes managed to come by the last two days. And that's pretty much it."

"And what did you do with your brother?"

"The usual stuff. Just hung around. And well, my parents threw a small party since Wes made it into the local Symphonic and even managed to get a solo in a piece. That's some pretty big deal."

He had this odd smile on his face, it looked kind of happy but sad at the same time, which left her wondering if she should take lessons from him how to decode a person's facial expression. But really, if she looked at him more closely, she could first and foremost detect these two contradictory emotions.

"That's great," her voice sounded foreign to her ears and it clearly lacked the enthusiasm she had meant to display. Maybe it had something to do with him not appearing to be entirely pleased about his older brother's success. Soul had from time to time shared things about his family with her but they were usually happy memories of family trips and the like. She didn't want to be pushy but she was itching to know more about him and his relationship with his family members, which she deduced were more complex than he let on.

He hummed from the back of his throat and once again she wasn't certain if it was assent or if he just did it to fill the silence with something.

"There was no doubt Wes would make this far though. He's very talented."

She smiled tentatively. "You're very talented, too, Soul."

He snorted, leaning against the backrest of the couch heavily. He heaved a sigh and suddenly he looked very tired. She bit her lip. Maybe she shouldn't have asked him about his brother. But she meant what she had said. She had heard him play only once and he hadn't even intended for her to hear it in the first place as he had stupidly forgotten to close his front door when he had come home from class. With a lecture on the tip of her tongue as she had entered his apartment an hour or so later, she had heard it. The dark, moody clash of keys, weaved together into a sinful symphony of anger and melancholy.

"I'm okay, but I'm nowhere near the level of Wes." His grin was sardonic and looked forced, his eyes fixed on the television screen, dull and unseeing.

"I've never heard your brother play so I can't compare you, but I liked your playing a lot."

"Just proves you have no idea about music."

"Hey!" She was scowling and glaring at him, though he was unresponsive to her irritation. But why would he put himself down like this? Her narrowed eyes widened to their usual size, her shoulders relaxing. "I don't know why you're saying this but even if your brother is better than you now, he has a head start of a few years. He has more experience than you. But when you're the same age as him, you'll be just as great, I'm sure."

"Heh. I doubt it, but thanks for saying it anyway." Before she had the chance to say something in return, he cut through her thoughts with a question of his own, "What about you? What did you do over Spring Break?"

"Uhh...well, I was mostly at my dad's place and met up with Black*Star."

"Is your dad as crazy as he was when we were still in high school?"

She sighed. "You bet."

He laughed a little. Glancing to her side, her lips twitched into a small smile. "It was better than expected though. I hadn't realized that I had missed him this much even though he can be such an annoying doofus."

"What..." he uneasily trailed off, making her meet his gaze. "What about...your mom? I know your parents are divorced and all that...but did you see her too maybe?"

"No. Actually, I barely talk with my mom."

"O-oh? Why is that?"

She fidgeted a bit. She rarely talked about her mother or family for that matter with anyone, as the topic would always make her feel down and moody, but she felt strangely okay with telling Soul.

"Well, she is travelling a lot and I don't really know where she is. Last time she was in Japan, visiting my grandpa, I think. That was when I talked with her more often because I have the phone number."

"Right. You're part Japanese...wait! Are you saying, you don't know how to reach her because she doesn't give you her contact details?"

She tried to ignore the disbelieving and slightly irked edge to his voice. "No. That's not it...I usually know how to reach her and what number to call but..."

"But?"

She looked down at her lap, a knot in her throat making it difficult for her to swallow and breathe and her eyes much to her horror stinging with newly gathering tears. She fiddled with her fingers, hands clasping and unclasping. "It's just I feel like she doesn't want to talk to me."

There she had finally said it. The heavy feeling that would press down on her and made it difficult to not to slouch after every phone call with her mother. Maybe she had always been imagining it, but her mother's short and clipped answers, her strained voice and the boredom with which she'd relay what was going on in her life made Maka think otherwise. She gulped, still refusing to look up. She repeatedly blinked, hoping the tears would vanish that way as she didn't dare to wipe them away, fearing Soul would notice them.

"Why wouldn't she want to talk to you? She's your mom."

"I don't know. It always feels like that to me."

Soul just scoffed and she only dared to lift her head up just a little bit, briefly glancing at him as he stretched his arms. She was surprised at the blatant anger on his face and wondered how he managed to look calm and tranquil at the same time. She shook her head, using his short moment of distraction to quickly rub her eyes free of any treacherous tears.

That day they didn't get much homework done and for once Maka wasn't bothered by such irresponsibility. Instead they spent the whole evening watching silly sitcoms, which managed to lift the heavy mood ever so slightly. She was cuddled up against him and he had his arms draped around her slim body loosely yet protectively. They fell asleep like that only to wake up the next day with their backs and necks sore.

Later that day, even though she would complaining about the pain in her back, it was still worth it.

* * *

Breathe in and out. Again. In and out.

Maka lightly slapped her cheeks, her skin feeling particularly hot to the touch. She had to go back in. It might be acceptable to get for just a few minutes but she couldn't risk spending the whole class outside...because...because the model happened to have a gigantic dick!

And with gigantic she really meant gigantic.

She puffed and nodded to herself as she quietly opened the door and made her way to her seat. Her back straight and her shoulders squared. Okay. She had recovered now. She could do this. And she did even though she was plagued by unnecessary questions throughout class, like: How did the model manage to hide his junk in ordinary clothes? Wasn't such a large penis very inconvenient? Furthermore, how long would it be if it were erect? And-

And then after continuously berating herself for being so unprofessional, she was confronted with another problem. She kept imagining the model as Soul! And at one point it got so bad that she wasn't drawing the model anymore but Soul. Mr. Noah had to call her out on it at least twice much to her embarrassment. It certainly didn't help her pride any when Gopher snickered crudely whenever Mr. Noah criticized her.

By now, she had memorized Soul's body in its entirety, her eyes had traced him all over, she had put him down to paper often enough. The only thing she had left to do was to let her hands memorize everything about him. She had gotten a little foretaste of what it could be like a few days ago. It had been nice but she craved more, craved to be with him on such a carnal level that it was unhealthy, both for her mentality and their friendship.

And this was the point she mentally punched herself, told herself that she could NOT think about Soul in that way.

Time progressed rather quickly and she did a good job of ignoring Gopher's death glares, and despite her less than stellar performance this time around, which the other remarked on when it was time for giving critiques, she still did decently well.

She was really glad when class was over, having anticipated it since the last half hour. Her gaze kept drifting to the large clock above the gaudy green door always in an interval of five minutes, which only served to made the class seem to drag on for longer. Her mood lifted when they were finally allowed to leave, and even Gopher's most certainly intentional jostle against her side couldn't do much to sour her mood. She was looking forward to see Soul again.

It was weird. She saw him on a nearly daily basis yet whenever she was on her way to him or he was on his way to her, she would always sport such a goofy grin, feeling far too happy for just meeting up with a friend. Hell, at one point she had found herself skipping through her apartment.

She had made sure to never ever do that again.

She adjusted her backpack, rolling her shoulders a bit, a small smile on her face as she made her way to Soul's apartment and again, she had to remind herself not to skip.

* * *

For some reason Soul was at his snarkiest today.

"I can't believe you're making me serve you in your apartment!" she muttered, pouting angrily as she brought him his coke.

His grin was as infuriating as it was sexy and she was torn between throwing the bottle of coke against his head or jumping on top of him and discarding their clothes immediately. She shook her head, settling for neither of these options. She sat down primly, glowering at him the whole time he gulped down the content of his glass in a matter of seconds.

She had changed into a pair of shorts and a shirt that was actually too loose for her small frame, which made her less self-conscious about having also discarded her bra. Not that he would ever notice in the first place. She didn't even reprimand herself for wanting him to notice her bra-less state. She decided to immerse herself in her homework instead before she started to mope and he picked up on it. Not very long into her reading process she wondered if it she should admit to Soul that she-

She frenziedly shook her head, _eradic_ _ating_ that possibility entirely. She could absolutely not have her wonderful friendship with Soul jeopardized because of some silly...a silly...what exactly was it she had for him? A crush? Or was she merely lusting after him? Was it both? Did it run deeper than a crush? Wasn't a crush generally something rather shallow? But her friendship with Soul ran deeper than that. Could it...could it perhaps be that she was...in love with him?

Her breath hitched in her throat, she could feel heat crawling over cheeks first before it seemingly consumed her entire body. Her hands trembled and she felt oddly light-headed. She could barely hold her pen in her hand!

She needed to calm the fuck down before she did something thoughtless.

She took a deep breath.

Soul was her friend. Friend. The word left a bitter taste in her mouth.

She breathed out.

She really cherished this friendship though. She had no reason to feel bitter about it. She was being stupid and unreasonable for deriding and belittling it with unnecessary _bitter_ feelings. Besides, things like that had to be requited in some shape and form or otherwise she would be needlessly making herself walk on a path of heartbreak and pain.

"Hey, can you bring me another one?"

Her head snapped up and momentarily disoriented, she just stared dumbly into his gorgeous eyes. When his words settled though, her eyes narrowed into a fiery glare. "Go get it yourself! I am not your maid!"

"No need to shout, woman. I was just asking," he grumbled as he stood up.

Her throat constricted as she watched his slouched shoulders. Great. Now she felt bad. She groaned, slumping forward, resting her her elbows on her thighs and burying her face in her palms. She only changed her position when he nudged her, considerately asking if everything was alright with her, and she moved to make room for him.

"I'm sorry," she said, voice timid and gaze downcast.

"Huh? What for?"

"For yelling at you."

He snorted, placing his glass down, having already emptied the half of its content. "S'alright. Hey, you look really guilty or something. Heh, don't worry Bookworm, my heart isn't bleeding or anything."

She sighed softly, a small smile lifting the corner of her mouth.

"Oh, wait! Would you have done something to make up for it? Maybe I'm very upset by your rudeness, after all."

He would never change. The humour in his voice however, made her play along.

"Oh, you poor baby." she cooed playfully. "Do you want me to kiss the pain away?"

"You can't kiss this kind of pain away. It isn't physical."

"What do you want me to do then to make up for it?"

"I don't know. Surprise me."

"Lazy ass."

His devilish grin was contagious and she just couldn't help herself, grinning like an idiot from ear to ear. It was moments like these she loved the most. She loved how they could be quarreling in one moment and in the next they were being playful and teasing and just comfortable in each other's presence.

"But make sure it's not something lame."

She glanced up at the ceiling in mock-thoughtfulness. "What about I-"

"Laaaaaame."

"Soul! I haven't even said anything!"

"Yeah, but it was still lame. I'd be very worried about that if I were you."

"You're an idiot."

"Now would you look at that? Still insulting me! After all the things I've done for you." He sighed overdramatically, his face twisted in fake moodiness.

She giggled, drawing her legs close up to the couch as she turned in her seat so that her body was facing him directly, sitting in a cross-legged position. "You suck at acting."

"You're very ungrateful, you know? I even stripped and posed for you. You saw _everything_ of me. Not many friends would do that!"

She knew his was still joking because Soul would never hold something like that seriously against her, but she couldn't help the guilty twist of her gut at his words. She shook this off, not wanting the easy mood to dissipate and knew that Soul would just scold her if she apologized for that. "I know, I'm horrible. How can I make it up to you?" She made sure to keep her tone light, grinning coyly and gently nudging his leg with her foot.

She didn't know what came over her. Maybe it was the pleasant atmosphere overall, maybe she had lost the function of half her brain, maybe someone had spiked her drink during lunch, maybe she was just an idiot, maybe his intense, blazing eyes got her more than hot and bothered, maybe she had been an exhibitionist in another life.

"How about..." she said throatily, her fingers toying with the hem of her shirt.

He leaned in closer, his eyes captivating her mind and body. She gulped, taking a deep breath, all reason tossed aside, shredded and stomped on as she lifted her shirt up.

Up. Up to her chin. And she was still not wearing a bra.

Soul's face was absolutely priceless. The smirk that had been oozing smugness and arrogance fell as his jaw threatened to disconnect from the rest of his face and his eyes grew to the size of saucers.

Overall, it only lasted a few seconds but felt like hours to her when she let her shirt drop softly, shielding her breasts from his gaping self.

"You...you..."

In spite of her reason catching up with her and in spite of her cheeks flaring with heat, her whole body feeling as if it were aflame, she somehow - _somehow_ , she could not fathom how - said, "How was that for an attempt to make it up to you?"


	4. Lessons in French

Some minutes or so later, which were enough to make her fully realize what she had done, they were just...chilling on the couch next to each other.  
Not much had been said between them and they had somehow managed to turn their attention to their homework. Well, at least it looked like that superficially.

She had flashed him her boobs. She had just lifted her shirt and given him an unobstructed view of her goodies. Yep. Just like that.

Okay, maybe doing that hadn't been the smartest thing, particularly in light of the complicated feelings she harboured for Soul. She hoped this flippant move of hers wouldn't make things awkward between them. She doubted it, sort of. She had seen him naked quite often, so having him see her breasts shouldn't have disastrous consequences for them. Although whenever he had discarded his clothes, it had always been with the intention to help her, to have her draw him.

Okay, maybe it would make things a little awkward. Perhaps she should directly address it. Soul was pretty much keeping a poker face by now after his initial shock passed off.

She fidgeted, her teeth gnawing uneasily on her bottom lip. She glanced at him briefly. Looked away. Had he liked what he had seen? Sure, he hadn't had much time to scrutinize her boobs but he had  _looked_ at them.

She shook her head, feeling stupid that such a question was at the forefront of her mind.

Damn it.

She didn't know how much time passed she had spent glaring aimlessly at the messy and scattered papers in front of her, her large tome opened on some random page; she couldn't find her pencil, it had probably fallen to the ground or something. She loathed the idea to move to search for it, fully expecting it to have rolled under the couch just to make things more difficult for her. She felt awfully tired, she just wanted to curl up on the couch and take a long, deep sleep and forget about everything.

It was soft humming that pulled her out of this state of semi-consciousness. Curious, she glanced up and needless to say she wasn't being haunted by a musically inclined ghost but it was indeed Soul who was humming. She smiled softly. It sounded nice. Then again, she thought almost everything sounded nice with his voice. Sometimes when he was captured deep in his thoughts, he would hum unconsciously. She wasn't certain but she had heard this tune quite a few times since they had gotten back from their Spring Break visits.

"What's the song called?" she asked, uneasiness and mortification and awkwardness momentarily forgotten.

His features were schooled in a careful expression of neutrality and his body language screamed  _casual_ at a first glance. But when she looked at him closer, she noticed his tense jaw, his clenched fists and most strikingly, his spine was stiff, a far call from his usual unhealthy slouch.

"It's called  _Les Femmes._ It's from the musical Don Juan."

"Hah? Really? Never took you for the musical person."

"I'm not really. My mom loves them though and makes me sit through them."

"Oh?"

"Heh, yeah. It's difficult to say no to my mom."

She laughed a little. " _L-les Femmes_ sounds French."

"Well duh, it is a French song with a little bit of Spanish mixed in."

That caught her attention more than anything.

"The only reason I can sit through those musicals is because the music is actually nice.  _Les Femmes_ is pretty much an ode to women." His lips twitched into a grin as he ran a hand through his hair, tousling it more than it already was. "The wording of the song is nice, I guess.  _Les femmes c'est plus beau que la musique. C'est comme un piano magique_.  _Qui s'inventerait des gammes. Sur les notes bleu de larmes. Qui coulent sur les joues des femmes._ It means: women are more beautiful than music. They're like a magical piano that would invent scales, on tears of blue notes that trail down the cheeks of women. If it weren't for the music. I don't think I could have survived Don Juan. He is a douche."

Okay, Soul talking French might or might not have some side effects on her body, like horniness.

"A womanizer. Doesn't surprise me." She pursed her lips disapprovingly, trying to ignore the heat that seemed to be invading her body.

"Yeah, cool guys don't cheat and play around."

"Agreed." She nodded. "And that seems to be a very nice song by the way." And then it belatedly dawned on her: "Hey, you told me you didn't know any French!"

He flinched. "Uh..."

She gasped in agitation, regarding his uneasy form questioningly. It was beyond her grasp why he would lie about something like that. He even got the pronunciation right...at least, she thought he got it right. It wasn't like she could judge someone's skills in French with her not even rudimentary grasp on the language. Now that she thought about it, Soul had definitely not been in her Spanish class in high school.

"Eh, well, you see...French is just...not a language that is...uh..."

Her brows furrowed. "What?"

He sighed. "It's not a...badass language like...like Russian or-or German. I'm good at it because my mom taught me. She thought it would be nice or something since her grandpa was French and she wanted to pass it on or something."

"You're an idiot. French is a beautiful language. And why would you be ashamed of being able to speak one language more?"

"I told you."

She snorted. "That's a stupid reason honestly. Besides, no one's stopping you from learning a more 'badass' language like German."

"Nah, too much work to attend another language course. French is already difficult enough."

"You're complaining about really stupid stuff. Everything sounds nicer in French."

"Does it now? And you know this how?"

"Err...it's softer and stuff."

He smirked, leaning forward and invading her personal bubble like nobody's business. "That's it?"

She spluttered inelegantly, lightly thumping against his head to put a bit of a distance between them. "H-how would you say...couch in French?"

He looked stumped for a moment but regained his wits soon after. An eyebrow raised and smirk fully intact again, he smoothly said, " _Un canapé_."

Her cheeks heated up another twenty degrees. "See? That sounds so much nicer than couch."

"If you say so."

"Say more. How about t-shirt?" She pointedly rubbed her over the cotton of the one she was wearing.

He chuckled lowly. "That's pretty simple. Just tee-shirt."

"Oh. Then how about-"

"Maka, this is silly." He sighed, stretching languidly as he crudely placed his feet onto the table. "Why are you so intent on hearing me speak French?" At her crestfallen face, he quickly added, "But if it makes you that happy, I can keep going.  _Je crois avoir tombé en amour qu'une seule fois dans ma vie..et je sais que c'est un peu ridicule, mais c'était l'histoire d'un soir. Juste une nuit de plaisir, une baise qu'elle ne s'en souvient même pas ca_ _r je pense qu'elle était pas mal soûle._ "

Maka was awestruck. That and Soul's voice speaking French got her all hot and bothered. Seriously, she had no idea what he was saying and frankly at this moment she didn't care. Hell, he could be admitting that he liked to wear pink socks and took bathes in mud and it would still get her hot and bothered. She gulped noisily, her fingers clenching with the fabric of her shirt, her palms moist with sweat.

"What..." she inhaled deeply, her voice thick with some emotion she hoped he couldn't identify. "What does it mean? Is it also from a song?"

"Maybe. It's for you to find out."

"That's not fair!"

"Hey, you only wanted me to speak French, not give you translations.  _Tu as de très beaux seins_ by the way."

"Haah? Soul! What are you saying?"

He snickered and once again she found her personal space invaded by him, this time she did nothing to push him away. "I just said: you have very nice breasts."

What?

She made a high-pitched squeak, her arms flailed wildly as her cheeks flared with heat and she was unable to look at him anymore. Her thoughts in those seconds of utter mortification could be summed up as such:  _aaskdgashfdkjbaskjbfvfs_ and  _don't hit him;_ alternately  _don't jump him because his sexiness increases when he ta_ _lks French_.

"Why did you do that anyway?"

It took her longer to properly assess his words and even then, her mouth and tongue wouldn't cooperate and the only thing she could squeak in response was a pitiful: "What?"

He growled, a raw sound from the back of his throat that made her skin prickle and shiver. He glanced to the side, his hand running through his unruly hair, before he fixed his gleaming eyes on her again.

"You flashed me your boobs. Why?"

She cleared her throat, trying to gather her wits and regain the ability to speak like a human being. And as the initial shock was slowly but surely dissipating, she felt an odd wave of calmness wafting over her. "I...uh..why not? What-what's the big deal? I've seen you naked before countless times."

"That's it? Because you've seen me naked, you're showing me your boobs as...as an exchange of sorts?" He sounded quite aghast, his tone tinged with panic. "Because if that's it, you should know I don't need-"

"No! Not an exchange. I wasn't really thinking when I did that. And I still fail to see what the big deal is. I just didn't mind it...and felt like it?"

"Whaat? So you're flashing innocent people just because you feel like it?"

She glowered darkly, feeling more and more stupid as he questioned her irrational behaviour. "No, I just don't mind it if  _you_ see me like that."

Okay, she just might have said something that could be interpreted along the lines of: I don't mind you seeing me naked, so jump me, please?

Fuck, fuck, fuck! What was she doing? She should try to say something to remedy the situation and try to salvage her friendship with Soul before it was ruined beyond recognition. She feared she was already too late for that and whatever she said wouldn't do any good.

"So you're saying that I should expect to get some boobs at any time? No, wait. Not at any time, but only if you feel like it, right?"

The humour and amusement in his voice made her disarray of feelings only twist and tangle more, her throat feeling incredibly tight and her lungs felt like as if something was pressing down on them. Could she just crawl under the table and hide with him being so merciful and ignoring her until she had sorted this mess she had created out?

She had no such luck because all of the sudden Soul's hand was in her periphery, so close, too close and her body was frozen, her limbs heavy as lead and she did nothing to stop him when his fingers grazed the hem of her shirt.

"Do you...feel like it now?"

Her head snapped up as if an invisible hand had grasped it and angled it that way to its liking. The movement was sudden, clearly surprising Soul as he jumped back a little. His eyes were wide, uncertain and panicky. Her tongue felt too thick and big for her mouth that seemed to be stuffed with cotton..

What? Why? What was going on? Had he really...had he really just expressed the wish to see her shirtless again? She wasn't misreading his words and actions, was she? She bit her lip roughly. Could she dare to hope that Soul might eventually return her feelings? She took a shaky breath, her nails digging into the leather of the couch beneath her.

"Maybe." Her voice was heady and throaty, so unlike her usual light and high-pitched one. It startled her a bit but there was no time to contemplate that because Soul was right in front of her! His knees touching hers, fingers playing with her shorts as his eyes became half-lidded, darker, more intense.

"Maybe? You have to be a bit more precise there." It was as if they were in a competition of  _Whose voice is the d_ _eepest?_ and she was doomed to lose. The husky timbre made her hands quiver and the blood roar loudly in her ears, her heart threatening to burst out of the confines of her ribs if this kept continuing.

Breathing was difficult to the point of painful, her hands wandered, grasping her shirt and slowly she hauled it over her head, leaving her bare and exposed and vulnerable.

He sucked in a deep breath, amazement and nervousness out in the open. She held his gaze bravely even though the urge to look away was overpowering, but she couldn't bring herself to break their eye contact. Something had to happen or else she was surely going to combust or die of heart failure or something similar if shit didn't happen now!

Their breaths were so loud and she wondered if he could hear her frantic heart, thrumming and pounding and hammering. She called out his name and as if lead by a stranger's hands again, she reached out to him, gripping his wrist. Tentatively she guided his much larger hand to her bared skin, placing it flatly just above her hip, not possessing the courage at the moment to put it elsewhere.

" _La hanche_ ," he muttered, stroking her hipbone, his fingers barely grazing her flesh much to her dismay.

Even with her addled brain, which made clear thoughts next to impossible, she still had it in her to question his words.

"It means 'hip' or 'hip bone' in French," he said and not giving her the chance to comment on that, his hand wandered, softly, barely any pressure like the graze of a feather against ticklish skin, it stopped when he reached the curve of her waist. " _La taille_." She had to bite her lip to restrain herself letting out any embarrassing noises. She had no idea how she was going to make it through without her skin flaring and he wasn't even doing anything. His pace was painfully slow, almost making her sob out how she needed his touch everywhere on her body because these tender and gentle caresses could never quench her desire, never sate her.

She writhed when his hand moved anew, settling on her stomach, his fingers teasingly drawing circles around her navel. " _Le ventre et le nombril_."

And higher his hand went. Oh how she wished she could make her mouth work, could tell him how he could, if he wanted, just rip their clothes off altogether because there was no need to to be so hesitant and slow when she was so desperate for him that it almost hurt. But she couldn't because his soft touch torturing her, his deep, velvety voice teasing her ear, whispering and breathing in that sensuous language, didn't allow her to interfere with whatever he wished to do.

" _Le sein_." His hand finally touched her breast, his thumb stroking a pert nipple as she gasped, the sensation overwhelming her.

Oh God, if such simple touches of his turned her into this writhing and mewling mess, what would happen with her when they did more? What noises could he get out of her? Could her skin feel hotter than now, could her heart possibly beat any faster?

" _Ta peau est tellement douce_."

Her breath hitched, his fingers boldy pinching her nipple. "W-what?"

The sheer, unadulterated desire in his darkened hazy eyes wiped her mind momentarily blank of what she had said, of what she wanted to know. Never had anyone looked at her with such longing, never had she felt so wanted. She felt unbearably warm, she couldn't place all these sensations against her sensitive skin, wondered if it was normal getting so affected by something so soft and simple.

"It means: your skin is so soft."

"Huh?"

She had heard exactly those words once, they had been whispered against sweaty skin once  _in that same husky voice_. Icy cold shivers invaded her body, a stark, unpleasant contrast with the heat that had been threatening to consume her milliseconds before. His eyes widened, her hands flattened against his chest to push him away? Maybe. His eyes reflected the same chilling realization and dread as hers, lips parting in a shocked gasp.

She didn't need to push him away, he withdrew his hands stiffly, moved back, putting a respectable distance between their bodies. It allowed her to catch her breath, to immediately put on her shirt. She was still shaken because...memories she had always tried to push away, not always having been successful with that task, resurfaced with a vengeance with more details, more vivid images than ever before.

"I think...I think I should go now."

She awaited his answer with an all-consuming dread. He wasn't looking at her when he spoke, his body turned away from her completely. "Okay."

* * *

Her folder was missing.

This was not such a pressing matter though, at least not now.

There were exactly two things on her mind at the moment, both related to Soul:

1) They had been so close to...to doing it.

A part of her was having a hard time believing the events that had occurred an hour ago, were real and not a dream/nightmare. Alas another part of her could only facepalm at the former part's doubts of everything's realness when her body was still tingling with the faint traces of his touch, her skin having imprinted every stroke and caress.

2) Apparently, if her mind wasn't playing a cruel prank on her and providing her with false memories, they had already done it once.

…giddy laughter, wobbly steps as they latch onto each other...

…heated, clumsy kisses, energetic touches...

…groping, touching, mingling breaths, moans, gasps...

...clothes scattered around, surprisingly tidy bed sheets cooling her skin...

…licks and kisses, putting a stark contrast to the slight chill in the room...

…His body draped over hers, him between her legs, thrusting...

…her whimpers, his concerned voice, gentle petting to ease her pain...

...legs wrapped around his hips, his breath hot against her neck, his hair tickling sensitive skin...

...startlingly red eyes holding hers as he climaxes, gently collapsing on top of her...

...she doesn't get to finish, chest heaving, body sore all over...

She tiredly rubbed her eyes with a groan. Her head was hurting and she felt like she had been drained of all energy. She didn't think cheesy flashbacks as they were often employed in TV shows and movies could exist in real life - maybe this was the reason why she was still having some lingering doubts if it had indeed been Soul to whom she had lost her virginity. Before the  _occurrence_ at Soul's place, she had never associated that voice with him. It had always been just a generic albeit husky male voice.

Judging from his own reaction, which had screamed shocked realization, the doubts were surely but slowly dissipating.

Not only did cheesy flashbacks exist but mutual flashbacks also seemed to exist.

She glanced out of window, the sky basked in a dim orange glow as the sun was setting. She bit her lip, letting her thoughts wander, contemplating her options.

Her folder was really missing; she didn't like the idea of it being not in her proximity. It held her drawings. She could use that as an excuse to go back and then confront him, trying to talk about it and picking up the pieces of scattered friendship up to put it back together somehow. Even if it hypothetically did indeed work and they could go back to being friends, ignoring that they had been very close to getting intimate and had been intimate a few years back, did she want that?

Sure, she did cherish her friendship with Soul and she would rather have him as her friend than having him not in her life at all but...but...could she dare to hope to have a romantic relationship with him? Not that she had any experience when it came to them. She never had a boyfriend, always having shyed away from potential dates because her parents divorce had messed her concept of love up quite a bit.

It was a good thing she didn't share any classes with Soul thanks to their vastly different subjects. It would not be particularly difficult to avoid him and to pretend nothing of that had happened. Oh, who was she kidding? This would never work and even though her feelings were a jumbled, intangible mess she didn't want to ignore Soul.

She couldn't keep doing this!

She would not run away from this!

She lifted herself from her bed in one swift motion, too quickly as her vision darkened for a moment. Shaking her head cautiously, she made her way out of the door. She was going to talk to Soul; she was going to tell him everything that was on her mind because he was far too important for her to run away from him because of her insecurities.

* * *

She did not take the usual route to his apartment, instead opting for the slightly longer one through the park. She wanted a few more minutes for herself to clear her head. Suddenly, the way seemed a lot shorter than she remembered, cringing when she passed a certain large tree that signalized she had put more than half of the way behind her. She continuously let words she intended to say pass through her head, rethinking, contemplating and considering each and every possibility, not wanting to miss any potential self-made traps if she were to finally confront him.

It was bit windy and she cursed herself for leaving her jacket behind, uselessly tossed onto her couch. She shivered slightly, rubbing her arms to maintain a bit of warmth.

She was pretty nervous and the urge to turn around and retrace her steps back to her apartment was almost overpowering. Only sheer force of will made her continue, her hammering heart the constant reminder of what was going to happen. She dearly hoped she was not going to mess it up. She was well aware that she could be quite clumsy and tactless with words. She was no smooth talker.

There were still some people here and there into the late afternoon, most of them being joggers, and Maka didn't pay them any heed, far too lost in her thoughts. That is until she caught a glimpse of white hair in the distance, the faint rays of the sun tinging it a light orange. Her breath caught in her throat as her steps became gradually smaller and slower, but she didn't stop walking. Along the way he must have caught sight of her too, but unlike her he started to walk faster until they were only a few metres away from each other and just staring at the other dumbly.

Maka couldn't calm her her heart to save her life. Just his mere appearance left her a shaking, blushing mess. She pushed some unruly bangs that the wind had blown over mouth behind her ear.

"Soul," she breathed, throat tight and voice hoarse, "What are you doing here?"

He smiled weakly, glancing down at his shoes, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "On my way to your place."

"Oh. And I was heading to yours." She laughed a little despite herself, feeling oddly lightheaded and warm, the chill of the wind around her forgotten. She liked to think he had the same intention as she had, confessing feelings, wanting to talk things out so they could make the step from close friends to more, having also coincidentally taken the longer route perhaps for the same reasons she had.

She frowned. This could also not be the case but his approachable mood right now made the resolve in her chest tighten. She glanced up resolutely, jaw tense and teeth gritted.

"Soul, I...," she moved closer to him, the tightness in her throat slightly dispersing as he didn't shy away, stood there watching her with expectant eyes. This had been way easier in her head, actually trying to come out with whatever was on her mind was akin to an intense physical struggle. She gulped nervously, partly hoping he would say something and partly wishing he would let her do this and not interfere. "About what happened...and...and..."

Damn it! This was so fucking frustrating she wanted to scream and cry.

"Maka?" Her breath hitched, their eyes met and he looked startled, emotions he expertly guarded were out in the open. His wide eyes had never been this expressive before and she felt like - as stupid and cliché as it sounded - she was drowning in them. He didn't knew what to do with his hands, having them hanging limply at his side, then stuffed into the pockets of his thin jacket and raising one up again to rake it through his hair. "You...uh, you look kinda cold. Here take this."

"Huh?" She almost took a step back when he stepped very close to her and put his jacket around her shoulders. She blinked, confused and at a loss of what to do. She unconsciously clutched it tighter, taking in the smell of used leather and something else that would always be uniquely Soul to her.

He sighed. "Let's walk a bit, okay?"

Her heart clenched and she could feel hysteric words bubble inside her mouth. Not trusting her voice, she just nodded, her shoulders feeling heavy and weak as if a weight had been placed on her.


	5. There Will Be Brawl

Their walk was distinctly quiet for the first minutes. The lack of talking on his part unsettled her, she couldn't bring herself to voice out her worries, her tongue tied and her brain addled with fear and anxiousness.

She didn't know how long they remained like this, it was enough for her to notice that they had almost reached Soul's apartment without having said anything. Eyes narrowing, determination welling up inside her, she pushed the uncertainty that was gripping her like a vice away, recalling why she had ended up here in the first place. There was no way she was simply going to let this pass without telling him anything. He could reject her, true, but she would rather have that than having to live in a constant vortex of confusion and ignorance.

"Soul, I have to tell you something." She exhaled harshly, congratulating herself for her steady and confident voice. She could do this even though she didn't know how to proceed. What should she tell him first? Should she mention their romp back in senior year or was that unnecessary? Would it be better if she flat out told him she liked the thought of being in a relationship with him? She didn't think she could say she loved him, still unsure about it herself, but she could express as much, right? "I remembered something when we were...you know..."

This was so embarrassing and certainly not the best way to continue. A brief glance into his direction told her he was blushing probably the same shade of red as her. His low hum urged her to say more.

"You know when I told you I wasn't a virgin and always got upset whenever you mentioned Black*Star's party, it's because back then, I-"

"It was you, right? I remember too."

"You do?"

She had suspected it already but having it confirmed did funny things to her, emotions ranging from chilling dread to giddy elation.

"I'm kinda glad I remembered though. I was very upset about it because I couldn't remember anything, couldn't remember the face of the guy with whom I did...something like that. I was embarrassed because I don't like being irresponsible and having drunken sex with a stranger is pretty much that. But...but...it kinda makes me..." This admission was hell to make and seeing her beet red face as it was reflected by the glass doors of the apartment complex in which Soul lived was not helping her courage much. Yet she kept going, taking a shaky breath as they stepped through the door. "...it makes me feel better about it that it was you back then."

The silence that followed was eerie, their steps as they walked up the stairs resounding noisily.

"I...I am...urgh."

Okay, that was not very encouraging to hear.

He sighed, a quiet groan slipping past his lips as they reached the second floor. "Same here," he eventually said, her nerves on fire and her lungs threatening to collapse with all the air she breathed out in relief. "I'm glad it was with you."

She smiled brightly at him, her cheeks actually hurting at the stretch of her lips. She had to look like a total goof but so did he with his stupidly large grin. Her hands were shaking from the sheer giddiness that enveloped her body. The heavy weight that had been pushing down on her gone and forgotten as they entered his apartment, the keys jingling loudly when he failed to pull them out of the lock in his first two tries, only causing them to laugh and giggle like idiots.

The moment the door closed behind them, a slight seriousness returned, their good humour melting away momentarily.

"And Soul, there's something else." She wasn't as nervous as before, but it still wasn't easy to come out with this - even if she felt a lot more relaxed now.

"Yes?"

The tension between them was palpable. Oh, how she would have just loved to jump him and kiss him all over until he knew and words were not needed. Maka didn't have enough trust in physical affection; neither did she think they could convey the exact thing words could. Why was he standing so close to her? It was making it hard to think and her brain all foggy and hazy. And if he was so intent on reducing her into a blushing, speechless mess, he could do the confession himself. That is, if he did indeed feel the same way and thus had a reason to make such a confession in the first place. Oh God, what if he didn't? What if he rejected her? What would she do? And how could she make sure that-

"Maka."

"Hah?"

When she looked up, she found him pretty much only separated from her by the tiniest bit of space. He was rakishly grinning down at her, his searing breath so close to her lips that she shivered.

"You think too much."

She only managed to gasp his name before he pulled her towards his chest by her shoulder and his lips found hers. She vaguely recalled the kisses they had shared on that night. This one was different, softer, more careful, and did not match his grin from before. He was touching her like she was some fragile flower and while she really appreciated his concern, she had been waiting for this to happen for a long time. Taking Soul's words to heart, she threw thinking and reason out of the window, wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing their bodies even closer, his heavy jacket around her shoulders plopping down.

She had no idea how to do this but she didn't let herself deter from lack of experience, her lips moving fiercely against his, eliciting a startled groan from him that made her smile into the kiss. She angled her head to the right, gaining better access, their noses not bumping anymore. Inhaling through her nose sharply, she nibbled on his bottom lip and let her hands roam down his shoulders and back, relishing in the hard muscles that were hidden beneath inconvenient clothes.

Yes, this was what she had been waiting for since she had first laid her eyes upon his naked body. Back then it had been small embers she could easily quench, though not completely, as being with him and spending time with him would always reignite the fire in her, her desire and fondness for him fueling it.

She needed him to so badly.

She gasped loudly as they parted, her lungs burning with the need for air. They remained only the barest of a moment apart, holding each other's gaze intently before they dove for their second kiss. This time it was decidedly less tentative and a lot more passionate. She was the one who let her tongue come out of her mouth to lick his lip first. She had never thought she could be this assertive and confident during things like this. He seemed as taken aback, if not more, than she was; he seemed unsure where to place his hands, constantly changing their hold, from her shoulders to her hips and then up to her waist with a panicky ardour.

She let out a shrill squeak when he suddenly grabbed her butt, causing her to pull her face away from his, her cheeks a bright red as he hoisted her... _by her ass_ and placed her on top of the shoe cabinet against the wall. Her chest was heaving and her heart was fluttering in her chest, her fingers tingling with the urge to touch him all over. She wanted his stupid clothes off, damn it! It was time she acted on this wish. She made quick work of his simple cotton shirt, gripping it both hands to pull it over his head with a swift motion only to let it drop without a care in the world.

She licked her lips at the tantalizing sight of his toned chest she had seen so often yet never had been brave enough to touch. She had no such scruples now, however. Her hands quickly made use of what was before her, marveling at the clenching and unclenching of strong muscles. His skin felt so smooth. His shuddering breaths made her blood boil, his heated gaze made her toes curl and her breath hitch with excitement.

She had no idea why he wasn't doing anything, just standing there as she touched and groped him to her liking. Maybe he was confused, maybe he didn't know what to do, maybe his laziness even lasted during steamy makeout sessions, she didn't know but she was starting to feel foolish for being the only active participant in this. It made her momentarily doubt her appeal and wonder if he didn't crave her the way she did.

Her train of thought was derailed to the point of utter annihilation when he mercifully snapped out of his stupor and gripped her legs, parting them to settle comfortably between them. He growled something into her ear, his searing breaths making her shiver and mewl, his wet, hot kisses only adding to the sensation of what she thought it would feel like being engulfed by flames that didn't burn or hurt her.

His mouth latched hungrily against her neck, sucking eagerly, intent on having her release the most embarrassing of noises before their lips met again, mostly a clash of teeth and tongues and saliva. There was something she had always been aching to do, yet with him showering her jaw and neck with licks and kisses as if he had memorized all her weak spots just from their drunken romp together years ago, it became increasingly difficult to concentrate. She pushed herself against him, hands sliding down his back, her lips curling into a lusty grin when she dug her fingers into the firm flesh of his rear...the pants definitely needed to go though.

"Never thought this would go so well." He chuckled against her ear, letting his tongue dart out to lick its sensitive shell. "Didn't expect you to come out with it like that. Totally thought I'd get my ass kicked. "

She gasped throatily, hazy eyes unfocused and dark. What was he saying? Something about his ass? Oh, yes he had a very nice ass. She squeezed for good measure, his growls and increasingly heated touches on her skin exciting her more. Even though proper thoughts were pretty much impossible to form, she still had the presence of mind to make her mouth work to talk. "Mmh...I-" she squeaked when his hand unabashedly cupped her breast, kneading it softly. "If...if I hadn't come out with it, I'd have come to you...to look for my folder."

"Hah? What fold-shit!"

She really loved his voice but why did he want to talk when they were about to jump each other's bones? She wanted him to get down to business already, so the natural reaction to signalize that was to rub the bulge through the fabric of his jeans.

"Fuck, Maka..." Was it considered normal that hearing him cuss with that low, velvety voice of his thrilled her? Discovering new kinks in such a short amount of time was odd, particularly, when dick-rubbing did not make him stop talking. "Good you didn't mention the folder; it's not here."

She sighed heavily, her fingers inching towards his belt buckle, her other hand running smoothly through his hair, enjoying the feel of soft, spiky bangs between her fingers. "It has to be, it's not at my place. I looked everywhere for it." She commented just for the sake to have him finally shut up but dark tendrils of dread worked well to make her slowly but surely snap out of her daze, the dissipating mood between them only adding to it.

Wait, did this mean her folder was missing? As in it was lost somewhere, with her prized drawings?

"Then where is it?" she bit out uncertainly, the graze of teeth against her exposed collarbone not really affecting her, cold numbness spreading through her body and her heart clenching viciously in her chest.

"Maka?" He pulled slightly away, having sensed her sudden shift of mood, her spine stiff and her eyes vacant.

"Soul, we have to find my folder!"

He quirked an eyebrow at her, face twisting into a grimace. "You're worrying about your folder when we're...we're doing  _this_?" Disappointment weighed down on his voice but after giving her hips a gentle squeeze he put more of a distance between their bodies, sighing dejectedly.

She regarded him fondly, sharing his pain that was called to the forefront of her mind by the uncomfortable heat between her thighs she had been ignoring in favour of her missing folder. "I'm sorry but...your pictures are in this folder, too."

His eyes widened. "W-what?"

"Yeah, I kept some of your drawings in it." Her voice was strained. She felt was stupid for being so irresponsible again. "I...I might have left it in the art room." She bit her lips adjusting the skirt of her dress, pulling it down to cover her thighs modestly as she jumped down the smooth surface of the shoe cabinet. At his blank gaze, she continued, "I'm going to get it fast and come back so we can...continue where we left off." She let her voice drop in an attempt to be sexy but Soul just looked unimpressed, his eyes still eerily blank. "Soul?"

He jumped, shook his head, startled. His eyes hardened resolutely as he put his crumpled shirt on much to her dismay. "I'm coming with you."

She had not time to argue as he pulled her by the wrist out of the door.

* * *

"Where else could it be?"

She winced at the irate tone in his voice, her guilt and shame amplified. "I don't know," she admitted quietly, unable to look into his eyes.

He groaned tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he limply leaned against a table. "This day...blows."

She pursed her lips. "I'm really sorry, Soul. I know you probably hate me for this and-"

"Well, it does kinda suck that drawings of naked me are somewhere out there," he groaned again, his slouch becoming so pronounced that had to bite her tongue to reprimand him for such an unhealthy posture. "But it's the fully voluntary cock-blocking, twice, that really gets me."

"Oh." She blushed prettily, trying not to think about certain steamy events before she lost herself completely to them and acted on some stupid impulse, like jumping him here. At a loss of what to say, she simply apologized again, eyes downcast as she shifted on her feet. She cursed herself inwardly. She never was this careless with her drawings and homework. She really had had to be out of it to neglect them like this. She stepped towards him demurely and raised a hand to pet his cheek affectionately, making him smile down at her. She leaned up and gave him a soft kiss, feeling a bit awkward and whispered with a low voice, which she hoped was at least remotely seductive, "I'll make it up to you later."

She felt really foolish, she was no seductress and her skills in acting sexy were as good as her musical talents. Okay, maybe her skills in sexy were slightly better because her musical abilities were nil. At least that was what she always thought of her herself and her sex-appeal. However, his unabashed leer, which made tingles of excitement course through her body, only told her that she either ruled in sexy or...he couldn't care less if she was clumsy and inept as long as he got some action later. She was okay with both options.

"Hey, maybe someone found it and dropped it at the lost and found," she said, slightly breathless and flushed.

He nodded slowly, "Sure, let's try that."

The so called "lost and found" was managed by the janitor of the complex, whose reputation as a funny but lazy and scatter-brained guy, did nothing to ease her fears. They were silent throughout the walk, only speaking when he asked her if she knew which drawings of him she had in the folder. She didn't really know but assured him that she hadn't put all the drawings of him in there, just a few.

They found the janitor sleeping soundly, but managed to wake him. To his credit, he did search the lost and found thoroughly for her folder, but ultimately their visit proved fruitless.

"I'm sorry, Miss. No green folder here." He looked genuinely upset and she didn't have the will to be angry at him.

She sighed sadly, exhaustion washing over her like gentle waves before they picked up in force only to engulf her in the end. Soul squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and it did help a bit, a small smile lifting the corners of her lips.

"Maybe your art instructor knows something. Isn't he in that room pretty often? Maybe he found it."

"Yes! We could ask Mr. Noah. But I don't think he's still here. He probably left already."

Soul cussed lightly. "Maybe, but it's still worth a try."

She nodded and they made their way towards Mr. Noah's office, discouraged yet still somewhat hopeful. She didn't know what she would do if her folder was lost forever. Moping, crying and sobbing all seemed appropriate reactions to that.

They had almost reached the small wooden door to the section, in which the professors, instructors and tutors of the visual arts resided during their working hours, the hallway being empty as they passed door after door, Soul looking curiously from side to side and then...Gopher passed them, head held high and haughty eyes flashing with panic when he spotted them.

She gasped loudly. "HEY! That's my folder!" She didn't give a fuck in the world that there might be people still here and that she was disturbing them. She hoped to handle this civilly, as she didn't want to jump to conclusions and accuse him falsely of art theft.

This attitude only lasted for a few seconds because in response he hissed "Albarn," and instead of explaining himself he turned on its heel...and ran into the other direction.

"What the hell?" Soul commented blankly.

Maka barely registered Soul's voice. Clenching her fists tightly, she didn't waste any time to run after the cretin who obviously stole her folder! He looked ridiculous running like a scared, hysteric chicken with her folder under his arm. She growled dangerously, her blood pumping powerfully as she ran, catching up to him in no time.

"Hey! Stop running, idiot!"

"Fuck you, bitch."

"Who're you calling a bitch, bastard!"

She tried to grab him but he evaded her touch much to her surprise. And this was it. Her tolerance for assholishness was at a limit; taking a deep breath, she viciously rammed her shoulder against him, causing them to connect with the dirty ground with the grace of two wrestling pigs. They grunted in unison, she pressed her knee against his crotch, making him yelp and squawk pitifully as she easily wrestled her beloved folder out of his dirty clutches.

Smirking triumphantly she stood up, glaring down at him viciously. He whimpered and staggeringly stood up as well, his glower just looking like the one a child would give a parent for not letting him play longer. Now Maka understood why he got the derisive nickname of Emoticon-Face.

He really made the most ludicrous face ever, but this was not important even though she felt like laughing. She quickly checked her drawings in the folder, making sure each and every of them was still inside and unharmed. She breathed out a sigh of relief, stiffly handing it to Soul who took it wordlessly.

"Why the hell did you have my folder?" she asked, trying to keep her voice even, although at this point she would have loved to bash his head in.

Her eye twitched and she clenched her fists in an attempt to reign in her violent urges. Hitting him would get her nowhere. "Answer me," she gritted out.

He huffed, dusting his pants off and smoothing down his shirt, not once glancing her way as he did so. Was he trying to provoke her into hitting him? "Answer me, damn it!" She gripped him by the front of his shirt, pulling him closer until he looked up. She snarled and only released him because she wasn't stupid enough to start a brawl. No, Maka Albarn was a smart and polite girl...oh but this stupid, uncooperative idiot was making things really difficult and it was oh so tempting to-

She shook her head, slowly releasing him, taking a certain amount of satisfaction from the nervous gulp he made. Placing her hands on her hips, she impatiently tapped her foot. "I'm waiting."

He harrumphed, eyes settling into an indignant glare. "I'm so sick of you!"

She blinked, ignoring Soul's confused grumbling behind her. "Ex-excuse me but what have I ever done to you?"

"Oh, don't play dumb. You know exactly what you're doing! Getting Mr. Noah's attention all the time with your  _perfect_ drawings. You'll never win Mr. Noah's heart!"

"..."

"..."

"What? Don't look at me like that. Only I can be at Mr. Noah's side."

"Say what? Maka, I thought that guy wasn't your type-"

"Urgh, shut up, Soul!"

Red faced, she directed her glare from a sheepish Soul back to Gopher. "I have no idea what you're talking about and if you have a crush on Mr. Noah, I don't care, but don't you dare to ever steal my stuff again or I'm going to maim you."

Despite her petite stature, and her overall harmless appearance, she managed to look quite menacing with her furiously blazing eyes and never once did the other two in the hallway doubt the validity of her threat. She didn't see Soul's proud grin, too focused on Gopher, who for a moment seemed like he was close to pissing his pants. She should definitely inform Mr. Noah about this occurrence. Such disrespectful and downright criminal behaviour could not be tolerated.

"Calm down. I haven't even looked at your drawings."

"Huh?"

"I've realized that if I want to win Mr. Noah's heart I have to do it with my own skills and talents. I can't rely on some lucky bitch's drawings for that only because Mr. Noah is so polite and gives her his attention. In order to- hey, wait. What? Stay away from me, you crazy woman! Gah, where did you get that book from? Stay awa-ow! Ow! Ouch! Ahhh!"

 


	6. Boom-Boom

"Well, this was fun."

He chuckled and despite her aggravation from before, she had to crack a smile at the ridiculousness of it all. She clutched her folder close to her chest, happy and relieved she had it back with all of her pictures still in there and none of them damaged or torn or ruined. This day had been quite eventful indeed, from having found out that Soul was fluent in French, to having gotten to second base with him, which had totally been not planned, to remembering that it had been him all those years ago on that fateful night, to admitting their feelings for each other and so on.

It had been a long day. Usually long and eventful days made her very tired but now...she watched Soul intensely as he stretched his arms complaining about the "stupid Gopher guy" and how he really could have saved himself such a dreadful experience of constant cock-blocking and his nude pictures being somewhere out there, lost or "in the dirty clutches of sick pervs."

"But at least we've gotten in it back, right? And...I'm sorry, Soul, you know...for causing so much trouble."

"Nah, don't sweat it. The bastard stole it from you. Besides, it was really awesome how you tackled him and showed him who's boss with that book of yours." He snickered lightly and she felt her heart flutter at his gentle eyes prodding her for a reaction. She smiled widely, putting her folder onto the table in the living room.

After all the excitement, it was odd going back to normal again.

Well, almost normal. They were more than friends now, weren't they?

She gave him a timid smile, their eye contact was briefly interrupted when he looked down, a wry grin on his face, his hand at the back of his neck. When he looked up and their gazes met again, there were no words spoken. Breathing out nervously, she slowly walked towards his bedroom, her knees wobbly and weak. She could hear him following her and wondered why he didn't just take her and kiss her as he did the first time, free of any hesitation and just confident she would reciprocate. Hell, why didn't _she_ do it? She didn't turn around when she stood in front of his large bed and with bated breath, gripped the skirt of her dress, staring at the pink of the fabric for a moment, feeling his eyes on her body with every fibre and muscle and bone. And in a mere second she discarded the dress, leaving her only in her plain white underwear.

A sharp intake of breath, and she turned around, rubbing her hands over her arms in attempt to get rid of the goose bumps on her skin. He stared her unabashedly up and down, his gaze slipping from her face down to narrows shoulders, to her small chest, to her taut stomach and lithe waist, to the curve of her hips and her smooth, long legs.

She gulped as he walked over to her, a hand touching her upper arm and all intention to abate goose bumps was promptly ignored because it was in the realms of Not Possible as his touch made just more rise. His eyes were wondrous and wide as he pulled her closer, his fingers splaying on the soft skin of her lower back, so close to the elastic of her panties. He whispered something too quiet for her to hear but all noise was blocked out anyway the moment his lips descended and captured hers.

The familiarity of this action and the sensation of the texture of his lips, the way his mouth moved against hers, stilled her nervousness and had her blood pumping and her mind reeling at the prospect of what was to come. It wasn't long before the tender lip lock transformed into something more passionate and sultry. Hands roamed, tongues clashed and danced, feet made the proper way closer to bed, him losing his shirt in the process.

It was only when they fell onto the soft mattress, her feet still touching the ground as her knees dangled over the edge of the bed and him hovering awkwardly above her, the seriousness of the situation was brought back to the forefront of their minds with a painful clarity. Or...to Soul's at least as he interrupted their heated kiss and she was far too busy to marvel at how firm his ass was again.

"Maka..." he panted and she just couldn't help herself, she just squeezed his butt, no trace of shame or embarrassment in her demeanour. He gasped. "M-maka? Is this really okay?"

She frowned heavily. Why would it not be okay, was she doing something wrong? God, maybe her constant butt-fondling was pissing him off. "What? Why?"

"I mean...since our first time was...we, uh...m-maybe we should get it _right_ this time. You know do this after real dates, with, uh, candles in the room and stuff."

She bit back a laugh, close to gushing at the sheer adorableness of his words and the cute blush on his face. She smiled. "For someone who was complaining about cock-blocking, you really like to self-inflict it often." She giggled but seeing his face that spelled mortification, she quickly added to amend, "Do you want to wait? If so, I'm okay with it. But you don't have to worry about me because this feels right to me."

She loosened her grip around him, waiting for his answer with guarded eyes.. His consideration did funny things to her body; on one hand she had a hard time calming her heart and on the other hand her body screamed in hope of not stopping this because she was hot and bothered and annoyingly wet without even having done much and something needed to be done about it. Nevertheless, she waited and thankfully he didn't ponder about it for a long time. His lips curved into that silly yet sexy grin she had come to love over the course of time.

"I got you in my bed almost naked. I'm totally cool with that."

Her laugh transformed into a terrible squeak when he playfully bit into her neck, not hard enough to really hurt her. She lightly smacked his side in retaliation, earning herself a startled grunt. It didn't take long for them to reinstate the mood, a few kisses, gropes and licks here and there and they were back to action.

His mouth worked a hot path of kisses down her body, making her shiver as his lips lingered longer between her breasts. She tensed up when he reached her panties, never once stopping, only hesitating before he pressed a lingering kiss to her aching core. She tried to keep her panting at a minimum but it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so what with him showering the skin of her inner thighs with open-mouthed kisses and teasing bites, having already gotten on his knees in front of the bed.

She put more weight on her arms to lift her legs a little when he worked on pulling her panties down. She was shaking all over, arms feeling like jelly and her chest fluttering with everything he did, no matter how trivial it seemed. As he slowly pulled her panties down in a torturously slow manner, she couldn't fight back her gasps, more and more of her skin exposed to his greedy eyes. They seemed to glint when he threw the boring fabric away, only focused on her and his newly discovered prize. He pressed his lips against her knee and made his way up, again spending more time on her thighs before he finally, finally parted her legs and pressed his mouth against her wet folds.

She hissed sharply, the image of him between her legs with his tongue darting out to taste her would forever be ingrained in her mind. Oh, _oh!_ Also, the feeling of his tongue lapping at her sensitive skin would remain unforgettable. She threw her head back with a mewl, eliciting a content hum from Soul, which only heightened her pleasure, her mouth becoming a fountain of shuddery moans.

He was at the perfect position, he didn't even need to move her to have better access, and when he spread her folds to take all of her in, Maka didn't bother anymore with trying not to be too loud. She bit her lip, the stalled air in her lungs was exhaled through her nose. He found her clit and made sure to focus on it, her heady voice encouraging him, his mouth sucking harder on the nub before he changed its course, looking for new ways to please her, always searching for new spots that made her twitch and her voice more needy.

She dug her nails into the mattress below, her quivering arms threatening to give out, only her messed up wish to observe Soul as he ate her out prevented her from plummeting gracelessly down. Had she been this loud the last time as well? Was she that sensitive or was it because her body was somewhat familiar territory for him this time and-

Huh? What was he doing? Oh! Nice!

A squeaky moan tore from her throat as he carefully thrust a finger inside her, twisting and turning it, testing what he could do, what felt good to her and what he shouldn't do. For now, everything he did felt heavenly and she doubted he was capable of making her feel not good. Especially when he boldly added a second and third finger shortly, setting a steady pace, caressing her walls as he simultaneously paid keen attention to her clit.

There was no way she could last any longer! Maybe he was so amazing at this because he played the piano on a regular basis, maybe there was no chance for him to be bad at this when he constantly had to put his fingers to use or maybe he really was just a natural talent. Whatever the cause might be she was immensely grateful for it. For the first time she felt a certain kind of heat gather in the pit of her stomach, the pressure rising to unbearable levels and she could only moan his name as he relentlessly continued to make her sob with his nimble fingers, not allowing her a break. If she thought about it, she would probably hit him if he stopped right now and-

She came with a loud cry, her hips flexing to meet his fingers to heighten the sensation, her toes curling and her back arching. Her arms gave out and she let herself drop onto the bed without a care in the world, body still tingling, her muscles lax and her skin slick with sweat...and other fluids.

She barely registered his hands on her body. She watched him with heavy-lidded eyes as he pulled her to the center of the bed, making them lay down more comfortably. She winced a little, the backs of her knees hurting slightly from the hard wood of the frame of the bed. Was he...was he licking his fingers? The fingers that had been inside of her, was he...oh, damn. Oh, he just didn't want her to rest, did he? His sinfully skilled fingers travelled behind her back, finding the clasp of her bra, struggled with it a bit, cursing and complaining, before she fidgeted and lifted her back up to give him more space, which only seemed to help him slightly because he was still fiddling with it when she finally recovered from her high, her chest still heaving and her breathing ragged.

"Urgh...how do I. I hate bras."

She giggled softly, her throat feeling sore and her voice hoarse. "Let me."

The bra immediately fell away and he seemed to be torn between wanting to stare at her breasts and avoid looking at her altogether because he totally failed at taking a simple piece of "stupid, unnecessary garment" off. Instead of merely staring, he went for outright touching, his large hands cupping her breasts that fit perfectly into them. She sighed softly as he took his time to explore, fingers stroking the underside of one before he twisted and grazed her nipples. She was starting to feel a little bad because he was doing all the work and she was just lying there lazily, enjoying his attention. Admittedly, it was quite the difficult feat not to relish in it and before she had the chance to show him the same pleasure he had shown her, his hot mouth was on her breast, suckling avidly and fondling the other with deft pianist fingers. She didn't know when she had laid down again, she only took note of this when she turned her head with a gasp and found her cheek pressed against a soft pillow.

Along the way, her hands gained a life on their own and she tugged at a belt-loop of his jeans with a playful frown. He released her breast with a loud, naughty, wet noise but she was too busy to savour the way his Adam's apple bobbed with his heavy gulp to dwell on that. She unbuckled his belt, grinning wickedly; there was nothing stopping her now. Not after he had perfectly displayed of what he was capable. She wanted him so much and couldn't wait to have him inside of her and to please him in return because he deserved it so much.

He took his pants and boxers off in record time, and even though she had seen him naked very often, she was still a bit nervous since he had never been erect and since his nudity had never been the pre-stage to sex. She licked her lips, her gaze basically glued to his dick and not aware of the way he was watching her self-consciously. She tentatively reached forward, brushing against him with the tip of her fingers before casually gripping him, causing him to groan and his eyes to clench shut. She liked that. Her body agreed heartily, the slippery wetness between her thighs uncomfortably hot. Soon she'd be ready to be touched again, and she could barely contain her excitement. She coated his shaft with his arousal, making it easier to move for her, making her grip firmer as she stroked him up and down.

She gasped when he smacked his head against her shoulder accidentally. It hurt but she was far too distracted by the noises he made, by the way his breath hit her bare skin, making the fine hairs on her arms stand. This was no comparison to their first time - their very awkward first time that hadn't been exactly pleasurable for her. Despite that, she was glad she still remembered, as the few things she recalled helped a lot to deal with this; there were things he had responded to very enthusiastically back then she recollected with a clarity that was surprising, considering how she had always aimed to keep those memories in the dark. But now she couldn't have enough of them as she wanted to look back on everything that had made him feel good: like how he had been especially loud when she touched him just below the head, or how he twitched and jerked when she ran a finger on the underside of his shaft.

Was it possible to get off by just watching him getting off? Her lips parted as she panted lightly, his groans against her ear and his hand stroking her hip feeling marvelous.

His hand stilling the movement of hers was something he had done back then too. This time she knew why he was doing it though, and she couldn't keep the mishmash of nervousness, apprehension and excitement down. She smiled timidly and she wasn't sure if it was making her feel better or more self-conscious that he looked nervous like she did. They kissed again, and slowly eased back onto the mattress with him in top of her, their chests rubbing together pleasantly. When the tip of his erection pressed against her, she froze, nails pressing against the skin of his shoulders.

"Soul, I'm not on any birth control. Do you have a condom somewhere?"

He swore lightly as he leaned over to open the drawer of the nightstand next to the bed, making her fear the worst. What if he didn't have any? She didn't know if she could survive the night in this painfully horny state. She didn't know if his fingers would be enough. She ached to feel all of him. Damn it, they should have paid a visit to the pharmacy or supermarket or...hell, there even was a condom machine somewhere here on campus. Would it be okay if she touched herself now because the lack of attention was seriously making her needlessly fretful.

"Ah, I have some!"

She released a sigh of relief as Soul showed her the rectangular package victoriously. She had never been this happy in her life but what was he doing now? Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Why was he looking at the small box as if he expected it to do something on its own. For a moment, she believed he was reading the instructions on how to put a condom on but that was ridiculous. Last time he seemed to know how to do it relatively well.

"Soul?"

He looked up, a grin threatening to split his face. "Just checking the expiration date, I'd had these for a while but never used them 'cause I never had a girl over here and...and..."

He stopped talking when he saw her blank stare. "Can we use them or not?"

His grin fell a little. "Eh, we can. They're not expired yet."

"Good."

"Yeah, good."

With the mood between them threatening to vanish completely, Maka took the initiative and pressed her lips firmly against his, let her hands roam his body and rubbed herself against him provocatively. Suffice to say, it didn't take them long to reignite their passion for each other and for Soul to finally roll the condom on, getting her even more excited, which she hadn't thought was possible.

She took a deep breath as he positioned himself and entwined his left hand with her right hand, squeezing it lightly. It was kind of reassuring and a nice gesture and she appreciated it by squeezing back, smiling up at him as her other hand remained at his shoulder, drawing lazy circles on his skin there. His tip pressed against her folds, he rubbed himself against her, making sure to hit her clit with every little stroke, eliciting gasps and mewls from her. She wanted to bash him for teasing her, scold him for not getting on with it already but she couldn't. There was no way her mouth could form words when her nerves were flooded with fire, her skin prickling with the need to be touched again and her legs quivering with the urge to align their bodies right so he could thrust into her and sent her into ecstasy.

He angled her to his wishes and carefully and slowly slid himself inside. They gasped in unison and his grip on her hand tightened.

Oh God, he hadn't moved but the sensation of having him inside her was enough to frazzle her nerves. He hadn't felt this good the first time. Being sober had lots of merits. She held her breath when he finally pulled out to thrust back in, the friction causing her to release soft noises, her breaths sharp and shallow. She...she had to kiss him because he was so amazing and she couldn't ever hope to be with anyone else. She doubted this would have felt the same way if it was another person.

She acted on her wish, kissing him hard and long on the mouth, parting his lips eagerly with her tongue to push against his challengingly. She broke away when he got used to the feeling of being inside her and the pace of his thrusts became more rhythmic and faster, a particularly hard shove made her vision go momentarily blank.

Keeping her voice down hadn't been an option for a long time during their tryst, so she called out his name, encouraging him to please and satisfy her. This felt way better than his fingers. Her blood was roaring, her body flaring with heat as he steadily pounded into her. His low moans spurred her on to do more than to lie there and just accept what he was giving her, even though the onslaught of pleasure was making it very difficult to make that decision with her brain all foggy and hazy and filled with nothing but _Soul_. She touched his earlobe with the tip of her tongue before she threw caution out of the window and took it between her teeth, nibbling on it lightly.

The effect was immediate, a growl that made her mind reel and teeter over the edge of reason and sanity because...damn, that was the hottest thing she had ever heard. The familiar feeling of pressure and heat building inside her stomach returned, increasing with his every thrust. She didn't want it to end. But she craved release at the same time, needing to have her body engulfed in this heat that gave her a pleasure so intense she was sure she was seeing literal stars behind her eyelids. They were so loud! She couldn't care less, and moved her hips readily to meet him, his fingers nearly crushing her tiny hand with his forceful strokes.

She was almost there, she just needed a little bit more before she could let go. Seeming to sense this, Soul's hand moved from her hip between her legs, his fingers finding her clit and wasting no time to rub her there.

Fuck. She couldn't handle this. This was too much. She gasped throatily, her back arching, her limbs quivering as if they were just unsteady, boneless mass. She never thought such noises could ever come out of her mouth. Shouts to urge him to go _faster_ and _harder_ , telling him to never stop, to fuck her. And fucking her, he certainly did, making her words unnecessary.

Her orgasm shook her to the core, throwing her head back involuntarily and her eyes squeezing shut because she couldn't handle this much. This sudden release of so much tension at once made her lose all control over her vocal cords and muscles, heat and pleasure radiating to every part of her body, her heart racing wildly. She felt him pulse inside her, long, hard and smooth. His shoulders shook and he came with a husky cry, managing a few thrusts after before he collapsed on top of her, exhausted and spent. He took care not to squash her with his weight and caught himself on his elbows.

When she finally opened her eyes, she was drowning in red. She grinned stupidly, feeling tired and all energy depleted but oh so _good_. She felt like she could sleep for an entire week, but sleep was not an option and far from something she wished to succumb to regardless how much her body called for it.

This...had to repeated, most definitely. She leaned up and kissed him softly, hoping to convey things she wasn't sure she could with words. She didn't know how much time they spent in each other's arms like that, kissing and cuddling and just basking in the afterglow of sex. She whimpered pitifully when he pulled out of her, diligently getting rid of the condom and throwing it into the small trash bin in his bathroom. He returned quickly and the slight chill she had been feeling because of his absence was vanquished the moment he was beside her and wrapped his arms around her small body, pulling her close to his chest and burying his head in her soft hair as he pushed a few bangs that had been sticking to her forehead away.

She smiled contently, eyes drifting shut as his rhythmic heartbeat lulled her into a state of drowsiness. She gently petted the expanse of his chest, played with his hair and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth and then another against his jaw and neck before she put her head back to its designated place against his chest, her ear over his heart. Both placidly enjoying their bodies cradling each other and their silent company before both eventually fell asleep arm in arm.

* * *

The silence was very comfortable and the soft noises of charcoal scraping against paper comfortable and soothing. His eyes were a smouldering red as he held her gaze, his pose not as much melancholy composer having literally stripped himself at his instrument but more of a sensual, eccentric and reclusive one. She didn't mind even if she had something else in mind for the theme of her picture.  
She had gotten so used to drawing him and only him that she had struggled a lot more with the piano than his anatomy. She knew his body all over by now, having spent enough time in his bed being equally nude and having such mind-blowing and amazing sex that walking normally became something difficult to do on occasion.

She squirmed in her seat and bit her lip. She suspected him being some sort of mind reader because his lips curved into a teasing smile. Was she that obvious with her insatiable lust for him?

She added the last few touches to the drawing, smiling happily to herself when she raised it in front of her to examine it more closely, content with the results.

"You done?"

She nodded, eyes straying from her drawing to Soul, who was still seated on the piano bench with such casualness he might have been sitting on bench in the park, enjoying the relaxing feeling of sunlight warming his skin. "Yes, I am, and it turned out really good!"

"Heh, you never say that. What happened? You're always so hard on yourself. Whenever I compliment your pictures you always tell me how you could've done better."

"Yeah but in those cases I really could have!" She pouted. "Not to say I didn't like how they turned out, but-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know you're a perfectionist." He waved his hand lazily at her direction.

"Oh, hush, you idiot." The way she said it had nothing scathing about it, her voice was soft and fond and loving.

"You still want me to do some poses for you?"

"Nah, I think we're done for today."

"Okay." He cocked his head to the side, studying her every movement as she placed her newest drawing into a folder, paying meticulous attention to do it right in order to avoid having it crinkled later. "Hey, come here."

"Huh?" She curiously looked up. "What is it, Soul?" Even though he didn't give her an answer, she still walked over to him. He patted the free space next to him on the bench and following his instructions, she seated herself, all the while trying not to stare too obviously at his dick.

"I never got to play for you, thought I might do it now since we're already here."

"Aw really?" She smiled widely, eyes wide and impossibly bright with her happiness.

He nodded, grinning. "Yeah and since I am already naked, we won't have to waste so much time with taking clothes off when we do it on the piano-hey! Ouch!"

"You really had to ruin the moment." She huffed indignantly, cheeks a rosy tint since the thought of getting down and dirty on the piano wasn't something she would be adverse to at all even though it had previously never crossed her thoughts. They had usually always kept the sex to more traditional settings, the bed being used the most often, then the couch and...and...

She shook her head feverishly. She shouldn't be thinking about sex right after she had scolded him being such a pervert. She was such a hypocrite.

"Is there something particular you want me to play?"

She thought a bit about it but nothing came to her mind. "No, just surprise me."

He chuckled softly, affectionately petting her hair before he turned around so that he was facing the piano. He had her enthralled with the very first note he played, the symphony of his soul capturing every fibre of her being and making her gasp for breath. He looked so pleased and content and it made her heart clench in her chest to see him like this as he had always looked so uncomfortable whenever his music was brought up. It flattered her to know he felt that at ease around her, trusted her this much to confide his insecurities and troubles in her. And she was totally okay with the fact that the same worked in reverse. She had probably spilled everything about herself to him. In the end, she had only been slightly bothered with how little she cared that he knew her in and out and probably better than she knew herself.

As his song came to an end and he waited for her reaction anxiously, she didn't even an ounce of fear at the prospect of how much she had bared herself to him. She clapped for him, gushing how much she enjoyed it and teasing him when he blushed like a little kid, unable to deal with so much praise. She had never believed in love stories with happy endings and she still didn't if she wanted to be honest because life was too complex and filled with many conflicts to allow simple, fairytale happy endings. But Maka liked to think she was pretty damn close to it with having Soul at her side.

"Heh, you really have no idea about music."

"You really don't know when to keep your mouth shut."


End file.
